


Choices

by Bluevape649



Category: Batwoman (TV 2019)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:41:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 22,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24867022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluevape649/pseuds/Bluevape649
Summary: Life is about the choices we make and no matter how hard we try, sometimes we cannot run away from them.Even if we run, they may be running towards us.
Relationships: Kate Kane/Sophie Moore, Sophie Moore/Julia Pennyworth
Comments: 20
Kudos: 53





	1. You Know Me And Hope

"But she... but I..." Kate stammered as she swirled her cowl around her forefinger. It wasn't like the last 48 hours hadn't turned her life upside down. It wasn't her fault, it couldn't be her fault.

As her mind trailed back to that night, she couldn't help the grin plastered across her face. No matter how strained her relationship with her family had gotten she knew there was always one person she could depend on.

Sophie.

But as the memory of the feeling of her lips graced across hers she knew she couldn't do it to her again. Ever.

It was all or nothing. No more holding back.

"Fuck it," she muttered as she grabbed the half empty bottle of scotch off her nightstand and took a swig. 

"After all that shit... aaaallll that shit. She deserves it. I deserve it!" She exclaimed as she slammed the bottle next to her cowl. "She needs to know the truth!"

As she stood up stumbling over discarded boxes, "First I need my pants... then to get the girl!" She flashed a cheesey smile as she shuffled across her bedroom digging through piles of mismatched clothes and empty takeout containers.

Carefully sliding a black pair of pants over her slender frame, she knew this time she could not walk away. She was done giving her space. 

It was Sophie that had come to her. It was Sophie that had kissed her. After time and time again Kate holding herself back, she was done trying to please others at the detriment of herself.

Screw what Luke said. He hadn't been out of the batcave in months. He couldn't possibly know about love, especially when the woman had set the stars in Kate's eyes. 

Little did she know the sinking feeling in her gut was more than just the alcohol talking.

\----

"It was just a damn peck!" Sophie yelled as she grabbed her purse and moved toward the door.

"It isn't like you haven't done more..." her voice trailed off as she slammed the door behind her.

She knew it really wasn't Julia's fault that they had had a past but at the split second she didn't care. If anyone should have known what it was like to love Kate, she should have.

She wasn't just someone you got over. Sure, it stung when Tyler left her but no matter how hard she tried or how much distance she put between them, Kate wasn't just someone you got over. They had a past that in her mind had never ended.

She had only been with Julia for a few months anyway. A few months of miraculous freedom. She could finally be her authentic self. But somehow that wasn't enough and as their life together had advanced Sophie couldn't help the nagging feeling every time Kate was around. 

Sure, she finally was able to be free but as she grew comfortable in her skin the need to be around Kate had grew stronger. She was with Julia. She had fallen for Julia. And Kate had made it clear, they would only be friends... if that is what you would call the strained relationship between the two women.

As much as she tried to blame the actions of that night on the wine, she knew deep down there was some truth in her actions. No matter what distance she had put between them, the taste of Kate's lips was something she would never be able to turn down.

She knew it was wrong, so very wrong but hell be damned; she needed to clear her mind of Kate once and for all if she was to move on even if it was the last thing she did.

"Oh... hey Soph... I didn't think you'd be here" a dark figure murmured as they slunk back into the dark of the night.

Was that? Had she... Sophie's mind raced as she put her key into the lock and turned the knob. How did they know this place?


	2. There Is Some Sad And Lonely Closet

As Julia once again got voicemail, she chucked her phone across the room. "Damnit!" She yelled as she slammed her fist against the table.

Three days. 

She hadn't heard from her girlfriend in three whole days. Sure, they had argued and she wasn't even sure if they were still together but it wasn't her fault.

Anyone would have gotten mad if they had walked in on her current girlfriend kissing her ex-girlfriend. And maybe she shouldn't have waited two weeks to bring it up but it still hurt.

Just thinking of their lips mashed together made her shutter. Kate already had her chance and it was hers now.

Kate had given her okay months before Sophie would even give her the time of day. She had worked hard on this relationship and finally given in to the mushiness that Sophie had brought up inside of her. They had matching keyrings for Christ sake and if she had to listen to Luke's teases one more time she would...

_It's a shame because she loves you..._

Those words swirled around her brain as she picked up her phone and pushed redial. "Come on Sophie pick up... Sophie... please..." she pleaded with the voicemail. 

Sure, she knew deep down Sophie had once loved Kate and she wasn't entirely sure she was completely over her but it was her turn now. She shook her head as she gazed lovingly at the picture that had replaced Sophie's phone number. Sophie was hers now and she was done being the third wheel in her own relationship.

She swallowed deeply as she pressed dial, the all too familiar phone number flashing across the screen.

"Hey." She said shortly as the woman answered the phone.

\---

As she rolled over, her phone lit up a familiar hue. "Ugh," Kate let out a loud grunt. Out of all the people in the world, Julia was one of the last people she had expected to hear from.

Yet as much as she dreaded the call, she knew she had to answer it if she was ever to have some semblance of normal in her life. But as that night replayed in her head, she wondered if normal was ever what she wanted.

It was bound to happen and hell, it was just a kiss that Sophie had initiated. Julia knew of the grasp Sophie had when she wanted something. There was no turning down that woman on her war path. 

Ever.

"H....ey?..." a groggy yet confused Kate picked up "Julia?"

"Yeah... well you see..." Julia studdered as she could feel the red hue flash across her checks. 

The silence between the two women was deafening. It shouldn't be this hard. It wasn't the first time a woman had come between them and it surely wouldn't be the last; but this time was different and they both knew it.

"Julia just spit it out." Kate hissed as her words cut the air. "You got her anyway..." she mumbled as her voice trailed off.

"I know we haven't seen eye to eye lately since Luke's party but uh... do you... have you..." Julia's voice cracked. As much as she had convinced herself that she was doing the right thing, she knew deep down the fact that she was the one with Sophie was killing Kate.

The trail of love sick women parading in and out of Wayne towers was clear as day proof of exactly how hurt Kate truly was.

"What is it Julia? I got a date with Ashley... or was it Sara... I forget, but I didn't tidy up for nothing and this silence is definently not helping my prospects." Kate spoke as a slight grin snuck across her face. Julia may have the woman but that didn't mean, the rest weren't up for the taking.

"Oh... yeah... um..." Julia inhaled sharply as she could feel the tension creep in "have you talked to Sophie recently?"

"Oh, yes." Kate growled, "She is jumping around my bed as we speak. Naked. Nevermind the fact that you BOTH made it clear where I stand." She thumped her wall a few times in annoyance, "Didn't you hear that? My bed is very loud these days. Hey, Soph come say hi..."

"No, Kate I am serious." Julia spoke sharply, "We got into a... disagreement... and well, I haven't talked to her since."

Kate's grin turned into a frown as she could feel the seriousness in Julia's voice. This wasn't just a normal fight, it meant a lot more.

"You know Sophie," Kate tried to put Juila at ease, knowing she had gotten into fights with Sophie more than she would like to be reminded, "let her blow off some steam and before you know it, she'll be right up under you flashing that cheesy grin shoving some new concoction down your throat; and swearing it is the best thing you'll ever have."

"Kate..." Julia sighed, trying to cover the nervousness in her voice, "it's been three days..."

"Oh" was all Kate could muster as her heart sank. 

Sophie could always be a hot head but she was never one to hold a grudge. And usually even if it was your fault, she would come back with some off the wall plan that you just had to try just to see a smile across your face.

"Yeah" Julia broke as she could feel the tears start to stream down her cheeks. She was never one to show her emotions but in that moment both women knew any animosity they had toward each other had gone out the window and they had one common goal.

Sophie.


	3. So Walk

_"I tried, Soph..." Kate sheepishly blushed, swirling around the burnt bits of cheese and noodles, "I just... I guess I can't..."_

_"I know you did," Sophie smiled, wrapping her arms tightly around Kate from behind the couch, "But if you were perfect at everything, what would be left for me to do?" She joked as she planted a kiss on Kate's ever increasingly rosey cheek._

_"You know I'm not perfect..." Kate shrugged, "Right? I've done some pretty fucked up shit. And if you..."_

_"Well in my eyes you are." Sophie smiled into those baby blues she knew so well before letting go and moving toward the doorway, "and there's the pizza... right on time." She turned back to a frustrated Kate shoveling the half cooked yet still burnt dish into the trash._

_"Extra mushrooms, right Kate?" Sophie prodded._

_"Sophie..." Kate half smiled as she looked up at her glowing girlfriend._

_"Yeah. Yeah. Extra olives and a lot of cheese... like an insane amount of cheese..." She looked back as she propped open the door as the delivery driver approached._

_"The Kanes?" A small, scruffy teenager squeaked as he approached the door._

_"Eventually." Sophie whispered to herself as she signed the receipt. "Eventually..."_

_"Soph!" Kate exclaimed as she handed Sophie a plate._

_"What?" She grinned as she placed pizza on her plate._

_"You gotta be careful. We got six months left until we graduate and I don't care what happens to me but if something was to happen to you..." Kate trailed off, intently focusing on a single olive. "I may not be able to save myself but you... if they were able to.. you know how those idiots can be..." Kate flinched as the previous weeks event replayed in her mind._

_"Hey... hey" Sophie tried to soothe, "We got a backup plan, remember? He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but I can deal with that for a few months longer." Sophie smiled, intently focusing on Kate's lips, "plus I thought the whole point of getting an off campus spot was so we didn't have to worry about who would barge in. Again. We don't have to be back to campus until 6PM sunday and I plan on spending every second doing that."_

_"Doing what?" Kate half laughed at Sophie's infectious giggle._

_"This!" She grinned as she jumped over the couch, landing squarely in Kate's lap, pizza flying in all directions as she leaned in and planted a kiss squarely on her lips._

_"But what about Mike!" Kate groaned as her hands slid up Sophie's back. " You know the whole school is taking about the new relationship in town."_

_"Oh, a 12 pack and some math help and I have you all to myself." Sophie pulled away to look into her eyes as she ran her fingers through Kate's tussled hair, "all to myself..."_

"Kate. Earth to Kate!" Luke spoke as he snapped his fingers in front of her face, "it looks like she went into an apartment building off Cole. What was the name of her street, again?"

"Broad Street." Kate and Julia said in unison. Julia couldn't help but wince as she met Kate's gaze. She knew Sophie had only been in her new building a few months, so if Kate knew where she lived Sophie would have had to tell her.

"Broad and 11th," Julia cleared her throat as she looked away from Kate, "but her place faces the water so she usually takes the entrance off 11th."

"Okay, well this place is a few blocks away." Luke focused intently on the screen, trying to push away the tension in the room, "Maybe she went to visit a friend?"

Luke knew the second the words fell out his mouth, they had done the opposite and made the matters worse as the two women next to him locked gaze.

"Or maybe a lead on a case?" He looked up at Julia, "Does that sound familiar?"

"Uh... could be." Julia fixed her gaze on the map before her, not wanting it known ever since the party her and Sophie hadn't exactly seen eye to eye.

"I know she had some informants that stayed around that area." Julia spoke as she swallowed hard, marking a big circle around a few blocks, "I think they like to stay around there."

"Good start," Luke smiled, elbowing Kate, "Batwoman... ready to do your thing?"

\----

"15B... 15B..." Sophie muttered as she focused on the dimly lit floor before her.

Sure, she had gotten herself in some tight spots before but with the alcohol still running through her veins she couldn't help but kick herself because a sober Sophie would have never gotten herself in this situation.

She knew better. She had been better. But ever since her clash with Kate there was something that just didn't feel... right. The once stoic Sophie had fallen into a emotional mess just thinking about those bright, red...

"You know it didn't have to be this way." A voice from behind her barked as the rope slipped across her wrists, snapping her back to reality.

"You don't have to do this" Sophie grimaced as her wrists rubbed against the ever tighting rope. "No one has to know. If you just let me GO!" She growled as she leaned forward.

"Oh... I'll let you go as soon as you figure out exactly who I am..." a man spoke as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Shit." She murmured. The man standing before her looked ever so familiar but as she tried to focus her tired eyes on his soft jaw line there was something she couldn't place. Something very familiar.


	4. Someone You Can Keep Secret

_"The great Kate Kane!" Julia laughed as she slid a few takeout containers across the island. "Ready for a night out? A promise is a promise." She smiled. It was never difficult to get Kate Kane to a party, leaving was the hard part._

_"Oh, yeah... hey" Kate waved as her concentration broke from the paper before her._

_"What is that?" Julia smirked, sliding the paper over to her side._

_"Oh nothing... it's..." Kate broke as she turned her direction to the steam rising from the bag. "Mac's! You remembered!"_

_It should be nothing, just two indiscriminate words on a piece of paper. Nothing more. But when it came to Sophie Moore, nothing was ever just nothing. It had been two years since Sophie had left her but every year that date stung just as it had happened yesterday._

_After countless unreturned phone calls in the days following her expulsion from Point Rock, Kate knew the woman was set on a war path to destroy anything that had remotely connected them. That was until she received a non-discript note with only two words on it, **gummy bear** , on the five year anniversary of their first kiss. She wasn't even sure how Sophie had found her, since she had just touched back down in London but there the bright blue paper laid, reminding her of what she once had._

_Kate was never one to remember anything other than Sophie's birthday and their anniversary but when it came to Sophie she had all their first ingrained in her skull like they were gold. And as awkwardly sloppy, and breathless their first kiss was; it was something Sophie had never let her live down._

_"Insatiable skills my ass." Kate mumbled to herself as she crumpled up the paper and tossed it aside._

_"Forget the food" she smiled as she closed the gap between her and Julia, "It's a Saturday night and I plan on showing my girl around town." She planted her lips softly on her cheek, letting her hand rest against the small of her back before darting back to their bedroom. "We can always find... something to eat."_

_Screw it, she wasn't going to let Sophie live in her head any longer. She had a beautiful woman beside her and if that wasn't enough to pull her out of her stupor, the alcohol would._

\---

"You know Kate, I'm really sorry for this." Julia turned to face Kate as she placed the car in park, acknowledging the dark, beautiful elephant in the room, "I didn't mean for it to happen. It's just one thing led to another and... well, I really love her Kate. Like really love her."

Love. The word stung as Kate forced her cowl further over her face, trapping the few stray tears that had abandoned her wishes. The one word she was never able tell Sophie out loud. But this was not the time nor place to feel sorry for herself, Sophie was missing and if she was ever able to find her she could not let her emotions get involved.

Her emotions were part of the issue that landed her here and maybe if she hadn't teased so forcefully, they wouldn't be in this mess. Sure, Sophie had been circling her that night... drawing her in with her half witted smile and off handed remarks but maybe, just maybe, if she hadn't let her heart speak for her that night Sophie could still be living in peaceful unawareness of how Kate truly felt.

Love, that shit is for love sick losers that never get the girl. Kate shook her head forcefully, trying to remove any remnants of what could have been.

"I get it." Kate squeezed out as she slowly opened the door onto the darkened alley, "She's the best... and well... if I was in your shoes I would have done the same. But I'm not and she's missing so..." She slipped into night before letting any stray tears fall once more.

Truth be damned, she did get it but it wasn't the understanding that was the problem; it was the magnetic pull she had felt every time Sophie was around was the problem. The fact that she still loved her despite the known rational that she would never be enough... the big fucking hole the woman would never know she left was the damn problem and as much as she denied it Kate was sick and tired of playing nice.

"I'm gonna find you..." Kate whispered into the darkened night, pulling back her suit to reveal a tattoo of a red and blue gummy bear melting into her wrist. "She may have you but I... I am going to find you."

As she grappled up to the roof of the building, Kate let out a small smile. No matter what kept them apart, she knew deep down that Sophie would always reside squarely in her heart. 

"Alpha... ready to engage..." Kate whispered into her mic, "wait, why are all the lights on?"


	5. I Would Have Come Back Sooner

_"Hey..." a tall, astute man smiled at Sophie as she tried to picked up the papers cascading down her arm, "New here I see. Let me help."_

_"Uh... yeah, I was trying to find my desk and well... I don't think this is it." Sophie half smiled as she felt her checks take on a toasty hue._

_She had already been at Crows headquarters a week and as well intentioned as everyone was, the constant reminders of the Kanes was something she still couldn't shake. As much as she spent the last year pushing down any remaining feelings for Kate Kane, the fact that she was standing where Kate had always wanted to be didn't lessen the blow._

_"The Denninger files." The strange man grinned, "it's always the new ones that get stuck with GCPD stuff. I'm Tyler, by the way."_

_"I'm Moore. Sophie Moore. And I think I am late to that meeting over there." Sophie quickly gathered the remaining papers as she pushed her way toward the glass filled room._

_"Moore!" Jacob Kane grinned as Sophie tried to slip in the back, "So nice of you to join us. Were you able to find any leads?"_

_"Sorry sir... I uh... the printer was having issues again. But I did find some information about where they might be hiding out."_

_"Great, if it all pans out you can join Beta team in the stakeout tonight." Jacob winked, turning a familiar face "Tyler, you will see to it that Ms. Moore has the details for this evening? We would not want any slip ups again with this crew."_

_"Yes, sir." Tyler nodded as he weaved through the room to sit next to Sophie. "You must be pretty important for Director Kane to just approve of you like that. He usually puts the newbies through their paces and most don't last more than a few weeks!"_

_"We uh... know each other." Sophie shrugged, trying to change the subject._

_Truth be told, ever since Kate's expulsion Jacob Kane had kept tabs on Sophie, making sure she was up to par._

_"I guess you're the one to keep up with" Tyler smiled, "Good thing I like a challange."_

\---

"Tell Batwoman I said hello." The voice echoed, getting closer. "If I let you get that far." He smirked, wiping the blood from his blade.

"I... I don't know who she is..." Sophie conceded, "But if you just let me go..." She winced as she watched the blood drip faster down her arm.

"Ah... I see, well you might know her as... Kate, Kate Kane."

Sophie's mind began to swirl as soon as the words left the man's lips. Was he telling her the truth or just trying to get a rise out of her?

Surely, if Kate was truely Batwoman deep down she would have known something. Kate's lips where something Sophie could never forget, a fact that was on clear display the last time they had been in a room together.

_She knew she shouldn't have had that last glass of wine; but as she watched Kate get increasingly uncomfortable watching everyone else couple up for the night she pulled at her heart strings like no one else could._

_Before she knew it she had followed Kate onto the balcony, away from any prying eyes._

_"Hey" Sophie smiled as she nudged a shivering Kate, "Isn't it a little cold for you to be out here alone?"_

_"Well," Kate looked down at the amber liquid in her glass, "You got Juila and if Luke doesn't make a move tonight I swear..." Kate finally mustered up the courage to look at the brown orbs digging into her soul, "I mean... I am happy you're happy... I just... I don't know if I fit anymore."_

_And like a punch to the gut, Sophie knew exactly what Kate meant without her saying a word. She had spent the last few months living blissfully unaware of how her current relationship was impacting her previous one. The most important one, if she was truthful with herself. Every day it was a new woman so she assumed Kate was living her best life but as she watched the doubt flicker across Kate's eyes she knew._

_"I... I just want you happy Soph." Kate sheepishly spoke as she tried her hardest to keep their eyes locked, "And if that's not me..."_

_Before she knew it, Sophie felt the draw to those bright red lips she could not deny. As she pressed her body further against Kate, trying to explore every inch of her mouth as frantically she could; Kate left out a soft moan while wrapping her arms tighter and tighter around Sophie._

_"Sophie I made it!" Julia's voice got increasingly louder as she advanced on the balcony, "Luke said you would... oh." Julia's voice broke as she watched the two women before her feverishly try to become one._

_"Julia... wait..." Sophie choked out as she tried to catch her breath, running behind a tearful Julia. "It's not what you think!"_

"Now hurry up!" The man yelled as he tipped her chair forward, snapping her back to the present "They are onto us so we gotta move... now!" And with one last shove Sophie's legs gave way under her as she slammed against the concrete floor.

"Move!" He yelled, grabbing her by the back of her shirt to lift her up. "If you don't your girlfriend will have more to clean up than a little blood... I'll make sure of it."

Girlfriend? Sophie blinked as she stepped up into a dark van. Surely, he couldn't know about Juila; after the surveillance scare they had made sure to keep their relationship unknown to more than a few friends. Or was this an elaborate ploy to get a rise out of Batwoman or Kate. Surely, they couldn't be the same.


	6. Is That You?

_"Well, that's the last box." Sophie smiled as she placed the worn box on the dolly, not sure if she wanted to let it go._

_"I cannot believe you've been at that place for a year and half your stuff is still in boxes." Tyler spoke as he pushed the last few boxes off the truck._

_Truthfully, as painful as it was to admit Sophie never had any intention of unpacking. Sure, she needed to unpack enough essentials to make the house feel like a home but any time the thought of making the move permanent she could never bring herself to do it. Yet the job was fulfilling and the perks she could provide for her family were an added bonus she never thought she would have. When everyone kept telling her how happy they were about how far she had come, the decision had been made._

_But as she stood in front of the most elegant and perfect house, she couldn't help but feel empty. With a deep swallow she decided to just push through. She had made the commitment now. In a few short months she would marry the most perfect man that checked all the boxes; and if he attempted to make her happy without asking too many questions it was enough for her._

_As long as she could keep her secrets, Sophie could push any stray feelings aside and try to be the best daughter and wife she could be. The woman she was supposed to be. She knew Tyler loved her and just accepted that her past was just that, her past; even though she had made a point to only give vague enough details that he could never piece anything together._

_"Ready to start our future?" Tyler smiled as he passed a key to Sophie._

_And that is exactly what she had planned. Tyler was her future and Kate was her past; and as long as she could keep them separate her life would be perfect. Yet as much as she tried to push it down, she couldn't help the nagging calling of the old tattered box that had spent the last two years moving from place to place with the original tape still intact._

_"To us!" Sophie smiled the biggest smile she could force, as she placed the key in the lock and turned it there was only thing on her mind. The future._

\---

"It's like they just left..." Kate jumped down to survey the scene, "But I know someone has been here." She spoke as she flipped through her lenses on her cowl.

"And we're up and running" Luke spoke as he recorded the scene before Kate. "Looks like some empty bottles, some papers, an empty chair, some blood... you know the..."

"Blood?" Julia scuffed as she barged in the front door and without a second thought both woman locked on the slight trail of blood leading from the chair to a fire exit.

"It couldn't be hers... right?" Julia searched Kate's eyes for confirmation, "You said they had been here a while. It is probably some old blood." Julia tried to pacify herself, knowing deep down the truth.

"Yeah," Kate half smiled as she searched the floor further. "Luke?"

"Yeah, I know" he paused as he flipped through the coms, "that looks fresh."

Yet this wasn't your run of the mill Gotham crew; these men had swept in the middle of the night, set up shop in one of the few empty lots out of the Crows district and within 48 hours Sophie had gone missing. They moved with a professional precision that Kate hadn't seen since her advanced tact classes at point rock. The signature speed that all advanced classes were known for.

"Got something!" Kate yelled, trying to divert Julia's attention from the darkening red trail across the floor.

"What the?..." Julia questioned as she walked toward the glowing, tattered map before her. "It is like they drew it... with chalk."

"Kate... Kate..." Julia called when she realized Kate was not looking at the same thing. "There is a map. Those idiots were too stupid to cover their tracks. We got 'em." 

"Oh, yeah." Kate turned back to Julia, slipping a few pieces of tattered fabric in her pocket. "We do."

"Kate... that can't be." Luke interjected.

"I know... I know..." Kate stepped to Julia, "Just hush."

"But Kate... why did you give them your name tags?"

"I didn't." Kate cut, trying to keep her voice low. "Now stop or Mary will find out exactly what is in that desk."

"Then who did? It is not like that is something you just give away..."

"No one. I know she would have never just given them away. Okay?" She gritted, trying her best to keep her cool. 

She knew exactly where the name tags had came from, she just couldn't figure out how they ended up on that concrete floor.


	7. Telling Them The Truth

_"And that makes eight." Kate smiled as she slammed down her last card on the pile. "Too bad we aren't play for something more... interesting." She grabbed the gummy bears from between them and added them to the pile on her desk._

_"No fair! You cheated." Sophie protested, "you just had to somehow." She smiled as she pushed Kate on the bed, straddling her as she worked her hands feverishly down her sides. "Where are they?"_

_"What... uh... huh?" Kate choked out as soon as Sophie's hands stopped, " I have no idea what you are talking about." She laughed with a knowing grin._

_"Then what is with that goofy grin? Huh... huh?" Sophie teased as she cupped Kate's head in her hands._

_"Oh, nothing." She nodded._

_"It's nothing, is it?" Sophie moved closer, slipping her hands down Kate's legs as she felt the thin fabric between them._

_"It's just you." Kate couldn't help the small laugh trickling out._

_"I cannot be that bad." Sophie rolled her eyes at the absurdity of it all, all night she had watched Kate's hands and the more intently she watched her the better she seemed to get._

_"That's not it." Kate grinned, pulling a handful of cards from behind her back. "You don't remember, do you?"_

_"That you're a cheater? Obv-"_

_Kate cut her off with a laugh._

_"Three years ago I could not even get you to say more than a list of the things I had messed up. Or how any other roommate would have been better. Daily." She smiled as she felt the heat rise from Sophie's hands, "And now, well the woman I couldn't keep my eyes off since I met her is straddling me with the same look in her eyes as when she defeated that obstacle course. Ms. Moore, do I look like prey to you?" She prodded as she pulled her in tighter._

_"Well, if the shoe fits..." Sophie grinned wider than she thought possible. It didn't matter what kind of day she was having, with Kate she always seemed to just fit._

_Growing up she had always felt out of place and Point Rock was the pinnacle of it. She had worked for years to just get a chance to prove herself and the first day she knew the odds were stacked against her._

_Yet things had always come easy to Kate and with her infectious smile, Kate had always been the one to give her the push to be the best even if that meant pushing over a line others wouldn't dare pass._

_"I got something for you." Kate brought Sophie back to reality as she lifted them both up, pawing around the piles on her desk. "I know your not a flashy jewelry type of person" Kate spoke as she placed a small red charm in Sophie's hand, cupping her fingers around it, "And it's not much but I know I wouldn't have made it this far without you."_

_"Kate, I... I..." Sophie was at a loss for words, "It's..."_

_"Yeah, I know red really is your color." Kate teased as she watched a single stray tear fall from Sophie's check._

_Sophie fell into Kate's shoulder, trying to muffle any remaining tears._

_"Well... if you don't want it..." Kate grabbed the charm, placing it back in her increasing piles._

_"Who said I didn't, "she spoke as she grabbed off the top of a pile on Kate's desk._

_"Those are mine!" Kate reached for Sophie's arm, revealing the charm and two name tags. "I didn't agree to those."_

_"Well they are mine now too." She smiled as she let her fingers dance across the letters, reaching into the bottom desk drawer for a small black box. "Think of it as payment."_

_"Oh no... the dreaded box." Kate couldn't help but laugh as she watched Sophie delicately lay the name tags and charm in the corner of the box, "Where all things go to die."_

_"Not all." Sophie gave a knowing smile, flashing two movies tickets from their first date._

_"Well, most. Why do you even keep that box? It is just... stuff." She shuffled through the trinkets for their last three years at Point Rock._

_"Safe keeping" Sophie spoke as she placed the latch on the metal box. "Then you'll always know where they are as opposed to that mess over there." She waved in the general direction of Kate's desk._

_"Hey, I got my system." Kate protested._

_"Yeah a system of disaster."_

_"Well it got you." Kate cascaded kisses down Sophie's neck._

_"That it did."_

\---

"You gotta tell her, Kate." Luke looked up at Kate with worry in his eyes. "You cannot just keep piecing her along. Someone is going to get hurt."

"Those tags and Sophie missing are two totally different things. She could have had them in her purse or-"

"Or what Kate?" Luke locked eyes with Kate, "how would you explain her having her EX-GIRLFRIEND'S name tags in her purse when she had a whole girlfriend living with her? The girlfriend who is in the next room, worried sick."

"They were... living together?" Kate broke, sure Sophie and Juila had spent a lot of time together but she didn't really think they had gone that far.

"Shit." Luke chastised himself, "Mary told me and I just thought you knew."

"Well I didn't and if I did then maybe that night..." Kate shook her head, "maybe it wouldn't have happened."

"What exactly happened that night?" Luke took a step to Kate, "first we were hanging out then next anyone knew you were just... gone."

"A mistake" Kate clenched her fist, "a mistake thinking after all these years she would ever want me back."

As soon as the words fell out her mouth, Kate's face fell. She knew she had made a mistake thinking Sophie would ever want her back.

The fact that Sophie was even gone was resting squarely on her shoulders. She couldn't get her back when she had the chance and now that Sophie had moved on her naivety of the situtation had left her with no other options than to break her friend's heart.


	8. So You're Just Gonna Betray Her?

_"You know Kate..." Sophie turned as she snuggled into Kate's chest. "Orginally I didn't like you. You came in here with your smug attitude-"_

_"I know" Kate cut in. "But after three years, would you really have it any other way?"_

_"I guess not but your messes..." Sophie teased._

_Kate pulled away to look at Sophie in the eye._

_"Three years and I think I am finally rubbing off on you" she waved at the mounting books filling Sophie's desk, "and I think you have rubbed off on me too" Kate smiled. "Not that it is a bad thing."_

_"For better or worse, Kate Kane you are stuck with me."_

_"Always, now let's get you ready for that date" Kate stood as she let her hand trail down Sophie's half naked body._

_"But you were so comfy..." Sophie groaned, "Ten more minutes?"_

_"Ms. Moore, you don't want to be presentable on your date this evening?" Kate spoke as she flipped through Sophie's closet, "You know it will be all over town. Now red or blue?"_

_"Fine." Sophie relented as she crawled from the warmth of the bed, "But I will pick. You'll send me out there looking like a fool."_

_"Just long as it's not..." Kate's mouth dropped as Sophie slipped on a small red number._

_"Zipper please?" Sophie turned as she contorted her wrist around the zipper._

_"Not... not that one." Kate couldn't help it, before she knew it her hands burned against Sophie's skin trying frantically to remove the small piece of fabric._

_"Just... uh..." she studdered as Sophie twisted under her hands._

_"Kate you seem to be flustered." She teased, "or is that red hue permanent."_

_"Um..." Kate blinked, trying to force drool from falling out. "You're just... you're beautiful."_

_It had been years and Kate knew Sophie's body inside and out but until that moment she had never realized how stunning her figure actually was. It was like she couldn't help but be mesmerized that a woman that wonderful could really love her._

_"Kate... I need the mirror." Sophie's tone snapped Kate back to her senses as her cool touch grazed Kate's still burning skin._

_"How did I?" Kate questioned silently once she realized she was sitting down across the room._

_"Hmmm" Sophie spoke, trying to put the finishing touches on her makeup._

_"Nevermind." She shook her head to clear the thoughts flooding her brain, "you look amazing."_

_"Thanks." Sophie pulled at the bottom of the dress, not sure the form fitting dress was really her style "now remember he does this for us and you gotta help him in tact tomorrow morning."_

_"As long as you come home to me I am ready for anything."_

\---

"Now I know we haven't seen eye to eye lately but there is something I have to show you." Kate spoke as she slid two small pieces of fabric across the table.

"You're tags?" Julia questioned, "what would your tags have to do with Sophie being missing?"

"Well..." Kate took a long pause.

"Kate..."

"I know. I know, Luke." Kate hissed as she glared across the table.

"They were in their shop... next to the chair..." Kate tried to put it as delicately as she could.

"So you found those... there?" Julia questioned Kate as she rubbed her fingers across the name tags. "Your tags, but why?"

"Yes." Kate was short, watching a mix of feelings dance across her friends eyes. "I hadn't seen those in years... since Point Rock. And well, they prove that Sophie was there and in real..."

"But why would she have your tags?" Julia forcefully cut her off, letting the sting of anger pierce her every word, "They're yours. You told me years ago you had gotten rid of everything from Point Rock!" 

She slammed her fist on the table, not realizing she forced the small bits of fabric to fall to the floor, "What else have you been lying to me about... Kate" she hissed as a stray tear fell. "First the kiss... now this... what the hell Kate?"

"Kiss?" Luke questioned, suddenly interest piqued.

As both women's eyes burned a hold in his soul, he couldn't help but recoil into his chair. "Nevermind."

"Truthfully," Kate looked down, focusing on a single spot on the table. "She took them. I just assumed she threw all that stuff away but... I guess not." Kate broke unable to look up from the table.

Julia's mind swirled as the facts were laid before her. She had always known they had a past and had been able to piece together how Kate truly felt about Sophie; but never in a million years would she have thought her current girlfriend would have kept such a big secret from her. 

"So... this is about you?" Julia broke the silence, "I mean I know you loved her but-"

"No." Kate let out a long sigh, ashamed that it took this crisis to see how Sophie truly felt."But if they know about the tags, I know who has her and she is running out of time."


	9. I Need To Know I Can Trust You

_"Damnit Mike." Kate let out a loud sigh, "Can you be any slower? Just get the-"_

_"Time." Sophie called from around the corner._

_"If you don't clear this room we will never be able to make it in time!" Kate threw up her hands in frustration, "Just hit these three corners and we can..." Kate trailed off as she watched her girlfriend set the room back up._

_As smoothly as she moved from target to target for the hundredth time, Kate couldn't help but smile. Sure, Mike was not the easiest person to work with but if it meant she could keep Sophie in her arms she would make it work._

_"Let's run it again!" Kate twirled her finger in the air, "And Mike" she placed her hand on his shoulder, getting ready to enter, "Quickly."_

_"Got it." The man briefly smiled before focusing on reloading his gun once more, "Ready."_

_Sophie watched as Kate carefully helped the tall, cumbersome man move quickly through the obsticals without a second guess. She could see the confidence grow with each passing element. Yet as much as she could tell Kate was not in the mood, the fact that she was there with a half smile on her face proved just how much she cared about Sophie._

_"10...9..." Sophie called out as she watched Kate push the man twice her size out the door._

_"Done." Kate bent over, trying to catch her breath, "Now lunch. And Mike?"_

_"Yeah, Kate?" The man looked up as he began removing gear from his belt._

_"If I have to do that again..." She put her finger up, taking a deep breath, "If I have to do that again you will owe me..." she looked up at Sophie with a knowing smile, "more than your time."_

_"Got it!" Mike laughed as he bounced down the hall, "See ya at pt!"_

_"Thanks Kate." Sophie smiled as she bumped into Kate's arm, "I know he can be... difficult."_

_"You're telling me" Kate rolled her eyes, letting her weight fall on Sophie's side, "I didn't think we would make it out of there and if we had to do it one more time I swear I wouldn't make it."_

_"Well, he thinks the world of you." Sophie grinned as she lightly linked the tips of her fingers with Kate's._

_"How so?" Kate's steps slowed as they rounded the corner to the dorms, "he never says more than a few words."_

_Truth be told, as much as Kate had tried to get to know everyone their freshman year she never knew his first name until it was almost over. And she was one of the ones who tried._

_"He told me, well not in so many words" Sophie shrugged, "but he did let me know how in awe he was of your natural ability in the tactical classes. He wasn't sure if he could keep up today."_

_"He almost didn't." Kate softened, "But he'll get there. So you're having intimate conversations with someone who never talks? Should I be worried Ms. Moore with your new found friend?"_

_"During our... date." Sophie tensed, "All he did was talk about you."_

_"The one you didn't come back from until 1am?" Kate questioned, slightly annoyed she had spent her night trying to study yet just ended up watching the clock, "you said you would be back..."_

_Sophie gave their linked fingers a tighter grip, trying to reassure her apprehensive girlfriend._

_"It was just a dinner that I learned he knew more about my girlfriend then I did..." Sophie trailed off to a whisper, placing her hand on their door before giving it a shove._

_"Sophie!" Kate squeaked out, unsure where the change in her tone came from, "Public."_

_Although fear had danced in her eyes, Kate couldn't help the smile across her lips. The ease that Sophie was with using girlfriend term was something Kate could never get enough of._

_"No one heard me." Sophie spoke nonchalantly as she locked the door behind her._

_"Now about last night." She quickly closed the gap between her and Kate, giving her a light shove as Kate's body fell on the bed behind her._

_"I would much rather it be you." Sophie growled as she crawled across Kate's body, letting her full body weight dance across Kate's hot skin. "Next time, I'll wear the red."_

_Kate's eyes widened at the confidence on full display before her._

_"Sophie... I..." Kate breathlessly spoke, trying to keep control of herself but as Sophie's hands made quick use of her clothes Kate knew who was in control._

_"We... lunch..." was all Kate could get out before she felt herself uncontrollably pawing at Sophie's clothes, trying to remove the thin layer between them._

_"I never said what we would eat." Sophie smiled into Kate's neck, leaving distinctive red marks down Kate's body._

_"God... Soph..." Kate rasped, throwing a thin blanket over their naked, entwined bodies, "Where did that come from?"_

_"What?" Sophie sheepishly smiled, digging her face deeper into Kate's chest. "I felt inspired."_

_"Well your inspiration almost got us caught." Kate laughed, the days previous events replaying in her head, "we really gotta get a place. I don't think it is believable that we only have one movie anymore."_

\---

"Are you sure you know?" Luke questioned, unsure how some pieces of fabric and the crews ability to go undetected could be piece everything together.

"I would bet my life on it." Kate nodded, shuffling through maps of Gotham.

"Julia?" Kate turned to her friend, a blank stare across her face, "Don't blame her, okay? She didn't know. If you blame anyone for how this went down, blame me."

"I... uh... what?" Julia snapped back to reality, the fog of information finally clearing, "I just need the truth."

"And you'll get it, as soon as I find the map." Kate turned back to the file before her.

"Got it!" Kate smiled, reaching for a tattered map among the yellowed files.

"Okay, well you see this spot over here?" Kate pointed at a random block of buildings on Gotham's lower east side, "they gotta be over here."

"And they would be over there, why?" Luke intently focused on the map, "On a map from a decade ago? How do you even know those buildings still stand?"

"Well, you see this one?" She pointed at a large building in the corner of the map, "It is his old stomping grounds... it was the only thing he would ever talk about from his childhood."

"And some fabric magically told you this?" Luke's eyes darted from the map to Kate and back.

"No, I just know how he is and..."

"Kate, stop. You are making no sense and we cannot just run into a building in a populated area based on your hunch." Luke pulled the map toward him, "You gotta make sense."

"Well, at Point Rock there was a guy who wanted revenge... I thought outing Sophie and getting me expelled was enough but apparently not."

"And after all these years, he would want to hurt her why?" Julia finally spoke, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer.

"Uh... he..." Kate suddenly got tense.

"Kate, spill. It is just us here." Luke shrugged.

"He... he had found out he hadn't taken her from me." Kate's voice softened, unsure if the full truth was needed.

And in that moment, it was clear to Julia their fight was never about her.


	10. You Lied

_"And with this last signature..." the young man pointed at a final x at the bottom of the page, "the place is yours. Congratulations Ms. Kane."_

_The man smiled as he slid a set of keys across the table._

_"And remember, no large parties!" The man yelled as Kate walked out of the small office._

_"I thought that would never end." Kate sighed as squeezed the bridge of her nose, "So many signatures."_

_"You said he was a friend." Sophie spoke as she put Kate's hand in hers, "different guy?"_

_"Well... a friend of a friend of the family" Kate shrugged, "usually my dad is the one who signs on the dotted line and he decided today to go off to London instead."_

_"Oh." Sophie looked away. As much as Kate had tried to prove to her that money was just a means to an end, it was clear Kate grew up in a completely different lifestyle that Sophie would never understand._

_"No, no..." Kate tried to soothe the worried look on Sophie's face, "It's not you... you know I would never..."_

_"It's okay" Sophie looked at Kate with tears filling her eyes. "I get it. Two different sides of tracks."_

_"Soph..." Kate searched Sophie's eyes for an answer, "it's not what you think." Kate took a deep breath, pausing briefly "It's just... before you... um... I had a more..." Kate could feel the shame redden her checks, "free lifestyle and some people just expect that of me." Kate tensed._

_"So a party girl?" Sophie said flatly._

_"Well... not exactly" Kate's eyes cascaded downward, "when you gotta keep up appearances... there are just some things you gotta do."_

_"And the headstrong Kate Kane is letting these people think this of her? My girlfriend would-" Sophie hesitantly joked, trying to ease the nervousness in Kate's eyes._

_"It's just... easier." Kate sighed, "when people think you are a certain way they ask less questions."_

_"So you're letting people think you are a party girl who cannot settle down... for me?" Sophie was shocked, she had never given it a second thought how much risk Kate was taking just by dating her._

_Although, they had never told each other they loved each other in that moment Sophie knew how deep Kate's feelings where. It was never the outward gestures that tugged at her heart, it was the small actions Kate had thought nothing of that put her over the moon._

_"Only to people who don't matter" Kate spoke nonchalantly, "I would rather them think I am off clubbing every night then the off chance we end up on some gossip column. Their opinion of me doesn't matter, yours does."_

_"Is that why your dad is always asking about me?" Sophie suddenly realized she had talked to Kate's dad more in the last six months than either of her parents. "To see if I still exist?"_

_"Oh no," Kate turned the key and put the car in drive, "He's just surprised you have put up with me as long as you have." Kate smiled as she linked her hand with Sophie's, "plus he likes you. Like really likes you, he says you prevent me from burning everything down. So burgers?" Kate asked, ignoring the questioning look in Sophies eyes._

_"Huh? He what? Burning?"_

_"Oh, nevermind." Kate shrugged, "I... I just used to have a type. But that was then and you are my future. Now burgers or what? I spent two hours in that man's office only thinking of all the ways we are going to break in our new place. But first we need fuel."_

_"Our, I like the sound of that." Sophie smiled, "You brought that dress, right."_

_"Of course." Kate pointed toward the trunk, "not that you will stay in it long."_

\---

"So you expect me to just... believe everything you say?" Julia's words cut Kate's core as she watched the hurt and betrayal finally break.

"I... I don't you expect you to... I just know I cannot do it by myself. This guy is ruthless and if I lose either of you too I don't know what I would do." Kate finally let the tears fall, "he has taken so much from me... I cannot let him do that again. I have to win this time."

"Kate, you're making no you sense" Luke placed his hand on Kate's, "you have beaten up some of the worst baddies without a scratch but some guy from your past is bringing you to tears?"

"You just don't get it. We had some... issues at Point Rock and this man did everything in his power to try to destroy my life." She crumbled into her shoulders, "I thought giving him everything he wanted would have saved Sophie but it seems it just made it worse."

"What?" Julia interjected, "If this happened at Point Rock, wouldn't Sophie already know about it?"

"Not exactly..." Kate relented, "You know how Bruce had you check up on me?"

"Yeah, he still owes me for that." Julia half smiled.

"Well, it wasn't exactly because of Sophie. I mean I was crushed but I left to protect her." Kate tensed, unsure how much information would ruin Sophie's chance at happiness, "I knew if he followed me then he would have left her alone. Or so I thought."

"Do I know him?" Julia inquired, unsure if the answer would have helped her boiling anger underneath.

"Yeah..." Kate tensed, "Remember the weekend we left Napal in a rush?"

"London?" Julia vaguely remembered.

"London."

"So... that guy at the club... he wasn't just one of your old buddies was he?" Julia slowly racked her brain, trying to remember any shady characters from her romps with Kate.

"Well not exactly." Kate tensed, "there are just people you cannot please."

"Oh."

"And Julia?" Kate softened as she knew her words had given her friend a crushing blow.

"Yeah?" Julia lifted her head from her hands.

"I'm sorry." Kate broke, letting the tears flow freely now, "I am sorry for all of this. If I would have been honest with you from the start none of this would have happened."

"I get it" Julia finally looked at Kate, "You love her. I just love her too."

"We all love Sophie!" Luke forced his way in, "Now pizza or Chinese?"

Both women's glares turned Luke's clammy skin a fiery red.

"What? I just haven't eaten since I was with Mary-"

"Mary." Kate smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever, "She'll be our in."


	11. I Can Take Care Of Myself

_"If that little bitch thinks she can..." the tall man nodded to his friends, fist bumping as he got knowing smiles from his friends. "She messed with the wrong one."_

_"The bitch... who?" Kate snapped, shoving her way through the crowd of men to make it to the man at the center, "If you think in that dense head of yours that you are capable of ever getting a woman to even touch you, you are clearly delusional."_

_"Well your friend seemed to enjoy it." The man smiled, "All. Night. Long. Right, Soph?"_

_"You just didn't." Kate studdered, unable to control the rage inside. "She's more humane than you could ever be you little boy! That is her being nice. That is why she is number two and you are barely ten." Kate snapped, letting her words hiss as she turned a bright red._

_"That is what I thought" he grinned, shoving Kate off him. "Damn lesbian thinks she needs to be the savior of all women and cannot even get one."_

_"Oh I could get any of them, just you see. Even yours."_

_"Katherine!" Sophie shrieked, snapping Kate out of her fog. "Did they hear you?" She mouthed as she pulled Kate by her shirt into their room._

_"I know... I know..." Kate relented, "But if that damn idiot thinks he can just say whatever he wants about you and I-"_

_"But we're just friends... remember?" Sophie reminded as she pushed Kate away from the door, "here... we're friends."_

_"Why is it only tuesday?" Kate mumbled to herself, not sure if she could last until friday._

_"We have recon all week and I think he is on beta so we shouldn't have to worry about him." Sophie smiled as she wrapped her arms are the shaking Kate. "We'll get through this... like we always do, together."_

_"I saw that shit he did out on the field." She focused once again, unable to shake her growing temper. "The fucking idiot is out for blood." Kate's eyes narrowed as she tried to bore a hole through bumbling man right outside the door. "First tripping Mike then sending you off the rope. He thinks just because he is some big tuff guy he can just mess with people and it will be okay."_

_"Kate...."_

_"I know, Soph. I know." Kate finally released her tense jaw, "why did it have to be him? I mean wasn't Mike doing the job? He may have been an idiot but he wasn't a condescending bastard!"_

_"Mike was caught kissing half of our class during the last party. Do you really think I could stay after that? Plus there is only a little while left; then you, me, a boat and no more secrets."_

_"And if he ever calls you Soph again I swear..." Kate finally relaxed as she laid her head on Sophie's shoulder, "And where did Katherine come from?"_

_Both women erupted in a fit of laughter, breaking the glaring tension in the room._

_"I had to try something." Sophie snickered, placing a delicate kiss on Kate's forehead "You were about to explode. Katherine..."_

_"Sophie!"_

_Little did either woman know, the man listening intently on the other side of the door was going to make them pay._

\---

"Why did you need me here at 3am?" Mary blinked, forcing more coffee down, "You know I have class at 8."

"Well, about that..." Luke emerged from the shadows, disheveled.

"Luke... you look like you just got ran over by a semi." Mary smirked, "And you said my late night office hours made me look-"

"Mary, get it." Luke glared, straightening his increasingly wrinkled shirt. "I would not have been up so late if someone would have not decided to redecorate the batcave."

"Lovers fight... eww!" Kate yelled from across the cave, ignored by both parties.

"What?" Mary smiled, "Parker and I thought there was no room for..."

"Wait... Parker was in here? Looking through mine, er Bruce's stuff." Luke cut in, unsure of he wanted a gossiping teen around his precious files.

"It's just files... and some weird poems" Kate appeared as she waved her hand in the air, steadying herself on the console. "We needed help."

"We?" Luke choked out, "You knew?"

"Well it is not like I could do it alone with you making your elaborate date nights and Julia off eating burgers with Sophie."

"And Julia is not here, why?" Mary looked around, finally noticing a missing member of the normal crew.

"I gotta let you in on my past first." Kate slide a bright yellow folder to Mary, "It's about Soph."


	12. The Truth

_"Ugh." Kate grumbled as she pulled the dripping clothes off her body. "Just one more day."_

_"Tomorrow... more rain" Sophie looked up from her textbook to an almost naked, muddy Kate._

_"And yet you're dry." Kate glared, quickly putting a towel barrier between her body and her girlfriend's eager gaze._

_"Not my fault you were... slow."_

_"Screw you." Kate shivered, trying to grip her towel while digging through her mound of clothes._

_"Well," Sophie smiled, "since that study session was cancelled that was the plan until... this." She teased. "But I don't have time to deal with all that mud." She waved at the thick, mud piles falling from Kate's body. "Now if you would have just followed me then you would be dry and... happy."_

_"You left me!" Kate protested, "and who said we cannot do studying on our own... you know I can be a quick learner."_

_"Do you really want to study physics?" Sophie questioned, tapping her pencil on her worn book._

_"Well... I am up for experiments." Kate grinned ear to ear before quickly dropping her towel and leaping at a surprised Sophie._

_"Kate!" Sophie's muffled giggles were barely able to escape the lack of space between the two of them. "The mud!"_

_"Well, now Ms. Moore it seems you need to get clean" she smiled, rubbing her body across Sophie's as the heat quickly radiated to Kate's core._

_"Not fair!" Sophie relented, pulling Kate in closer for warmth, "You were right behind me, it shouldn't have taken you over an hour to get back."_

_"Yeah, well..." Kate slowly picked away the drying mud between them, "Someone had the bright idea to go around the last set of trees instead of going through it and today of all days the clouds decided to let go."_

_"The last flag wasn't behind the big oak?" Sophie nonchalantly questioned, "We just had to go through the trail."_

_"Nope" Kate spoke, reserved. "Someone threw it in the mud pit and of course... everyone else was too scared to look for it." Kate motioned to her mud caked clothes, "Someone had to do it."_

_"Fearlesss leader Kate!" Sophie saluted with a smile, "Guess that is what you get for being late, an... interesting group." Sophie knowingly smiled._

_"Well, if someone wouldn't have hid my underwear in her clothes this morning, I would have been early." Kate puffed out her chest._

_"Did I or did I not wake up to your naked body next to me? Whatever happened after was a direct result of your skin against mine. I take no blame."_

_"Well... you had this cute little smile across your lips and-"_

_"I did not!" Sophie protested, indignantly. "I would never... creap!"_

_A sly smile crossed Kate's lips._

_"What were you dreaming of?"_

_"I don't remember." Sophie waved Kate's assumption off._

_"Did it involve a certain shower curtain and nothing else?" Kate grinned, recalling last weekend's rampage._

_"No." Soohie cut, a knowing red hue a dead give away._

_"Sophie!" Kate laughed, "you were dreaming of me... naked."_

_A silence fell between the two as Kate watched Sophie's eyes betray her stoic face._

_"Soph, if you wanted my body... all you had to do was ask." Kate grinned, maybe being late wasn't so bad afterall._

_As they enjoyed the warmth of each other neither knew what the next day had in store for them._

\---

"So... that chick you wanted to bring home during winter break, wasn't just a fling?" Mary's eyes narrowed, trying to make sense of Kate's ramblings.

"No, Sophie."

"And Dad knew?"

"Yes." Kate cut, the late hour and lack of sleep wearing on her.

"And... he let you?" Mary questioned, "He wouldn't even let Cole come over for dinner until I was a senior."

"Mary," Kate sighed, "Focus. Dad and Sophie have a... thing. He liked her."

"And she didn't come home because? I assumed you went clubbing every night to get over some rando but since it was Sophie..."

"I didn't go clubbing. I went..." Kate flipped through the papers poking out of the folder, "here." She placed her finger on an obscure receipt.

"The... crew?" Luke pulled the stained paper toward himself, "Sounds like a club, Kate."

"It's a gym."

"With drink surcharges?" Luke smirked.

"That's the whole point." Kate rolled her eyes. "It's not supposed to look like a gym. There are a certain... clientele."

"And that is the reason Sophie is gone, years later...?" Luke trailed off, clearly lost.

"Yes."

"So... Sophie was supposed to come to our house for winter break and instead you went to a club that really is a gym?" Mary questioned. "And now Sophie is gone and you are an emotional mess over something you won't tell us." Mary's voice increased sharply, clearly annoyed.

"Sense, Kate. Make sense." Luke exhaled, "we cannot help if you don't make sense."

"He made me promise if I didn't say anything, Sophie would stay safe." Kate let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Kate, please." Julia pleaded from the entrance of the batcave, clearly dishevelled and exhausted. "We cannot help you if you keep everyone in the dark."

"Julia?" Kate's voice broke as the three huddled masses turned to the shadowy figure leaning against the wall.

As Kate inhaled deeply she knew it was finally time to tell the world the secret she had held in all these years. The real reason she would never be a crow.


	13. Do You Want To Come In?

_"Ummm..." Kate tensed, knowing doing this over the phone would be bad... very bad. "You can't." She finally broke as a few tears betrayed her._

_"What did you mean, Kate?" Sophie barked, trying to not let her temper get the best of her. "You know I cancelled plans for this. And you tell me the day of?"_

_"Something just came up," Kate lied, hoping Sophie wouldn't catch on. "You know my how my dad can get."_

_"This was never about Jacob, Kate." Sophie could feel herself lose control but at that moment she really didn't care. "It was about a damn weekend with my girlfriend being just that, my girlfriend. I am tired of playing pretend, I just want to be with you!"_

_The silence between the two was slowly killing them. Sure, they had fights before but this one seemed different. The dreams they had both been looking forward to had been severed and there was no going back._

_"Soph... please." Kate pleaded, unsure how to do this without breaking Sophie's heart._

_"No."_

_"What?" Kate questioned, unsure of Sophie's sudden shift in demeanor._

_"I said no. I am not doing this over the phone. If you want to du-" Sophie tried her best to hold it together, knowing she would not let Kate off this easy._

_"I would never!" Kate practically begged, "this is not about us. I... I..." Kate choked on her words, trying to hold herself back from just getting on her bike and finding Sophie._

_"Then who because I never agreed to share you with anyone."_

_"Sophie, I... I... lo-" Kate couldn't help the tears freely flowing._

_"No, Kate." Sophie spoke as cold as ice, "I get it. You don't want me around. I hope whoever is there is worth it."_

_"Sophie, it was never about..." Kate tried to soothe the tension but as soon as she heard the dial tone she knew it was useless._

_"I'm doing it for you." She whispered to herself, knowing whatever tension between them would have to wait._

_This was bigger than either of them and if she could save Sophie from any further heartbreak she would do whatever she had to._

\---

As Kate's eyes bounced across the three in front of her she let out a big sigh.

"You see... growing up like I have you tend to be expected to entertain in certain circles." She tensed as she threw herself down on a chair.

"And when you don't check certain boxes you can make people feel uncomfortable. Now, since I had my dad's support they could never come at me directly but-"

"This is about Sophie." Luke interjected, not sure how Kate's past had to do with Sophie.

"Just listen." Mary smiled, placing her hand in Luke's.

"Everyone knows my dad is the leader of the Crows, even back than in my Point Rock days. I was never just Kate Kane, I was Jacob Kane's daughter and expected second in command."

Kate slid a Crow's assignment sheet across the desk.

"Now these were my dad's main crew back in the day. His murder of crows if you would."

"They seriously call themselves that?" Julia let out a slight chuckle.

"Yes." Kate spoke as they all slightly smiled.

"They all could have easily gotten the spot if I was out of the picture. And when I was jumping from woman to woman it was easy to label me as unreliable."

Luke pulled the sheet closer, inspecting the meaningless description of each listing.

"These are just first names and a code name. Hawk... Matt, Sparrow... Tyler, Goose... Mike..." Luke spoke, still unsure how this would all matter.

"Tyler?" Julia questioned. "As in Sophie's ex-husband."

"That's the one."

"But I thought he didn't know about you two." Julia asked, unsure if this was another one of her girlfriend's secrets.

"He didn't." Kate fumbled through the folder once again, pulling out a new assignment sheet.

"But he did." Kate pointed at the name right under Tyler's.

"Mike Costello?" Mary asked.

"Yep." Kate nodded, "I'll never forgive that man for the rest of my life and he knows it."

"Why does he sound familar?" Mary wondered as she slid both of the papers before her.

"These were dated right before you came back from Point Rock."

"Exactly. And I'll give you one more piece of evidence." Kate spoke as she pulled out a worn and crinkled paper out of her pocket.

"Your discharge paperwork?" Luke's tone raised as he tried to inspect every detail.

"Shit!" Mary yelled, turning a bright red.

"Yep." Kate nodded as the other two frantically tried to piece the three papers together.

"And you think they are working together?"

"Gotta be. Mike had it in for me since day one because women cannot be in control." Kate air quoted with an eye roll.

"Wasn't he the one that?"

"Exactly."

"What? Huh?" Luke's eyes darted between the two women.

"Mary, want to do the honors?" Kate smiled.

"My pleasure." Mary nodded in Kate's direction, "It was their in to take the top spot now that Sophie and dad have their riff. And well, Kate..." Mary smiled, "would you like to continue?"

"Back in the day I wasn't really dependable; but when I had Sophie, dad knew she would be the only one to keep me on the straight and narrow. Perfect time to put me in charge."

"And they would come after her now?" Luke twisted his head in confusion, "you've been back years and she is dating someone else."

"You see, the thing is..." Kate turned to Julia with a twinkle in her eye, "I truely am sorry for what I am about to say. You gotta believe me. I was stupid and if knew what I knew now I would never-"

"Kate, spill."

"Uh... after the party and all that went down I may have drunkenly called her."

"But how would Mike or whatever his name know?" Mary leaned across the desk.

"The man hates me for what happened at Point Rock, he would make it his mission to know."


	14. Are You Happy?

_With a deep exhale Kate pushed the darkened door and it gave way to a small dimly lit room._

_"Name?" The narrow framed woman behind the counter spoke._

_"Uh... Kate." Kate spoke as she pulled on the hem of her shirt. "Cole told me to come here."_

_"Proceed." The woman spoke with little to no emotion as the door behind her cracked slightly._

_"Uh... thanks..." Kate nodded in the women's direction._

_The dark door gave way to a brightly lit room sparsely filled with people clearly with one purpose on their mind._

_"Who the fuck are you?" A man bellowed from the opposite corner, "if you are another one of those rich pansy shits I would love to fuck. You. Up."_

_"Well, who the fuck are you?" Kate snapped back. Clearly he didn't realize who he was messing with and if his inability to mind his own damn business prevented her from getting the answers she needed it would be the end of him._

_"Who wants to know? The man stepped closer toward Kate._

_"Kate. Now I am not going to ask you again. Who. The. Hell. Are. You?" Kate narrowed the distance between them._

_"Called it." The man smiled as a group of men circled behind him, "Pansy ass rich girl thinks she got what it takes."_

_"Fine." Kate mumbled to herself as she closed the area between them, grabbing his shirt and laying a haymaker squarely across his jaw, "Now I will ask again. Who the fuck are you?"_

_"Sid." The man spoke as he rubbed his jaw. "Now what do you want gi-... woman?"_

_"Better." Kate narrowed her eyes at the crowd slowly stepping back from the scuffle. "Now what do you know about Costello?"_

_"Oh, Mike?" The man slightly relaxed, "he boxes here Mondays and Thursdays but I haven't seen him in a while since he went to that boarding school."_

_"Point Rock?" Kate half smiled, already knowing his answer._

_"Point something..." the man shrugged, "I guess. We aren't like... that. Just a good dude with a good left hook."_

_"Now do you know where this Mike dude could be... friend?" Kate smiled._

_"He hasn't been around... hey Ty, have you seen Mike?" Sid motioned to a man lifting weights in the corner._

_"Nope. But heard he got some hot chick at school and you know him and girls. Won't take no for an answer."_

_"What kind of chick?" Kate questioned, knowing full well Mike Costello would be the last man to ever get a girl at Point Rock. Unless he... "tall, nerdy chick with an uncanny ability to call out bullshit?"_

_Both men shrugged._

_"All I know is she had some rude boyfriend and he was gone so Mike was going to shoot his shot." Tyler spoke as he walked away, "we done here? As much as I like watching Sid get beat up by a girl I got a match to prepare for."_

_Kate could feel the anger boil up deep inside but with a quick swallow she knew she had to remain calm._

_"Guess." Kate nodded as she placed her hand on Sid's shoulder, "took it like a pro."_

_"Who knew someone so small could swing that hard." The man chuckled as he slowly walked away, "and Kate?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"If you want to do some real damage the real fights are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fifty a head and winner gets half."_

_"See ya then." Kate nodded as she made her way to the door._

_As soon as the crisp night air broke across her skin Kate could feel the fear wash over her again._

_"Sophie... please..." she pleaded as she repeatedly pushed redial. "I... I love you." Kate begged the phone to answer._

_As she put her helmet over her head and started her bike, Kate knew she had exactly two hours to find Sophie if she was ever to find Sophie without anyone else being the wiser._

\---

"Tick tock... tick tock." The man grinned from behind Sophie. "Looks like your little friend is taking longer than I thought. Maybe her little gadgets aren't that useful afterall."

"You won't get away with this!" Sophie flinched as she felt her wrists burn against the ropes, "Kate will find you!"

"Oh, finding is the easy part. I mean you could have made it a little harder..."

"How did you find out about my safe house?" Sophie grimaced as she fought harder. "Only two people know and Kate would never..."

"Oh, it wasn't that hard" the man spoke as he slipped in front of her finally revealing his face in the dimly lit room "when you got sources."

"Costello." Sophie's voice rattled like a copperhead going in for the kill, "Kate would never... she hates you!" Sophie lunged forward, closing the space between them.

"Exactly" the man smiled as he knelt before her, "all you had to do was play house like a good little girl but you had to go and screw it up over a dyke."

"Ty... Tyler?" Sophie's voice broke.

"Yep." The man grinned as he tightened the ropes around her ankles, "and now because you couldn't keep your mouth shut I get a two for one special; second in command with the crows and get to out Batwoman."

"Kate isn't going to take this lying down." Sophie hissed as the truth washed over her, "She didn't at Point Rock and she sure won't now."

"That's the plan." The man smiled as confusion flashed over Sophie's eyes.

"Her inability to let a bitch like you go... again, will lead her right into my trap. For Gotham to see the truth, the weakling that Batwoman really is."

"But Batwoman doesn't know..." Sophie trailed off, feeling the blood drip between her wrists.

"I told you." The man spoke as he swung a knife before Sophie. "Your little girlfriend is batwoman."


	15. Try A Little Harder

_"Soph!" Kate gasped as she turned the lock on her door. "Please, please please."_

_She could feel the tension rise to her cheeks as the door finally gave way, revealing Sophie's bag neatly cascaded across her pillow._

_"Shit." She muttered, "where the hell could she have gone?"_

_She made her way across the room, trying to note anything out of place in hope of a clue; but the meticulous nature of her girlfriend had left her with very few options._

_As she shuffled through the papers on her side of the room, Kate knew the wrath she would receive from Sophie would leave her with some mental bruises. That and the death glare she would have to receive for weeks was one thing she was not looking forward to but at that moment saving her was more important. She had to take the leap._

_"Sorry." Kate whispered as she delicately flipped through Sophie's calendar, trying to leave everything else in tact. "Tr... 12? Kate questioned as she flipped to the current date._

_Now Sophie was known for random, obsecure note taking especially when she didn't want Kate to find out but that was new even for her. They had fought the night before and the ink looked fresh so Kate knew she had to press on._

_"Uh..." Kate's eyes darted from the calendar to her bag. It was just a peek, what could happen?_

_As soon as she felt the metal zipper give way she could feel an unfamiliar shadow behind her._

_"Hey, I just wan-" Kate turned to face the figure, "oh."_

_"Now what do we have here?" The man smiled, "I don't think your name is Moore."_

_"This isn't your room." Kate spoke coldly as she turned back to the bag._

_"And you aren't supposed to be here but here we are. Now if you'll just move..." he spoke as he slid between Kate and the bed, "I can wait here for Sophie and you can leave."_

_"And what if I am here waiting on her too?"_

_"Doubtful. Unless you want some tips on how to get a woman."_

_"I do perfectly fine on my own, Costello." Kate's voice was sharp as she moved her attention from the bag to the man before her._

_"Now that is settled, you can go now. Maybe after break we can exchange notes." He said with a sly grin._

_"Or what?" Kate hissed, unable to keep her anger in check. "This is my room too and if I want to wait on Sophie I can."_

_"If you want to see how a real man gets a girl, fine but you probably don't want to do that."_

_"Gonna run off and tell Sophie about the bag? Go ahead."_

_"You won't have to worry about having to explain why you went through her bag... I'll make sure everyone knows who you two truly are. Roommates... ha... more like fuck buddies."_

_And as soon as the words flowed from his mouth Kate couldn't help it as her fist aligned with the side of his face._

_"Kate?"_

\---

"Okay... let me get this straight, you want them to believe I can box?" Mary looked up at a grinning Kate.

"Exactly." 

"But Kate... I can't. You saw me in high school, you saved me from more beatings than I can count."

"I never said you will have to fight..."

"But Kate..."

"Luke will." Kate nudge the man on her left, "Avenge your women's honor. Right, Luke?" Kate grinned widely as a rosey hue filled Luke's cheeks.

"Kate... but I... we... uh... don't you think I am more suited for the tech side? You did say I wasn't allowed to leave the bat cave..."

"I changed my mind." Kate nodded as she slid a pair of boxing gloves across the table. "Don't worry, you won't be alone. I will be fighting too."

"And what am I supposed to do?" Julia hissed, "mopey eye candy? Or am I supposed to just sit here... depressed while these two over here" she waved at Luke and Mary, "pretend they can fight? Don't make it about us!" Julia growled as her eyes linked with Kate's.

"Julia... don't" Kate turned back toward Luke, "now what I need you to..."

"Kate Kane!" Julia glared as she stepped between Kate and Luke, "Now I know we have had our differences but..."

"Julia..."

"No Kate, no" Julia searched for Kate's eyes, "I am tired of you just glossing over the big fucking elephant in the room. You fucking love her and instead of acknowledging it you are pretending like it was just a fling. I saw they way you looked at her that night and you can blame it on all the alcohol in the world but we all know Kate Kane can hold her liquor."

"Julia..."

"You can run around being batwoman all day long but at the end of the day we both know it will not be batwoman that saves Sophie... it will be Kate." Julia hissed, letting the stress of the situation take over.

"I said stop." Kate let a flash of anger dance across her eyes. "Now do you want to save your girlfriend or not?"

"But is she really mine?" Julia spoke as she took a step closer to Kate, "everyone sees the way you two look at each other."

"That was the past." As much as she tried to play cool Kate could feel the tension of every word.

"Fucking bullshit."

"Now Luke I need you to..." Kate turned her attention to Luke, hoping the daggers shooting out of Julia's eyes would just go away.

"We're not doing this again." Julia spoke as she took the gloves from Kate.

"I am not doing anything other than saving your girlfriend." Kate grabbed the gloves back, "Now if you will let me..."

"Uh huh... and you just go around kissing all your exs?"

"Well, I did sleep with you." Kate grinned to the knowing gasps.

"That was different and you know it Kate. It is what we do and you cannot tell me that Sophie will ever be just a friend."

"It is what she wants." Kate spoke with a lack of emotion even she was surprised by, "She wants you... she loves... you."

"Kate... I..." Julia fumbled with the words to say. She had always hoped Sophie would pick her even though she always knew she would be runner up. In that moment she realized maybe, just maybe there was more to the past between the two then she thought.

"Now if you'll please stop" Kate spoke with annoyance as a stray tear began to fall, "we can find Sophie and you can go on being in love.


	16. Glad You Remembered

_"Kate... stop." Sophie pleaded as she ran after Kate, catching the door as Kate closed it._

_"I get it." Kate spoke as she slowly turned around. "A fling, right? Who would expect someone like you to want someone like me." Kate quickly swirled around before the cascading tears betrayed her._

_"It was not what you think." Sophie begged as she placed her hand on Kate's shoulder._

_"Then what was it?" Kate spoke slowly, refusing to turn around. "Or did I not see your lips smashed against his?"_

_"Well..." Sophie tensed._

_"Exactly." Kate's voice broke, "now please if you would let me go..."_

_"It wasn't me..." Sophie pleaded, "I was just helping him with trig and before I knew it he was in my lap with his lips against mine. I swear Kate I would never..." Sophie could feel herself falling apart, but in that moment her hard bravado was the least of her worries._

_As the tears fell Sophie could feel a coldness she couldn't shake._

_"Kate... you gotta believe me.." Sophie shook, unable to stop the wavering in her voice, "I would never. You're the one I want to be with."_

_"So I am supposed to just believe after you all but said I was off sleeping with someone, you wouldn't do the same?" Kate finally turned, revealing red puffy cheeks, "It's not like dating him wouldn't be easier... safer."_

_"I..." Sophie could feel her body wince as she finally connected the dots, "I went out for dinner last night after your call and well, he was there and we started talking about the trig final. He said if he didn't get at least an 80 he would fail and asked if I would help." She could feel the jumbled mess of words fall from her lips but at that moment all she cared about was the truth, not matter how chaotic it sounded._

_"It was just help and nothing more." Sophie pleaded her point. "Please... just believe me." She spoke as she wiped the tears welling up in Kate's eyes._

_"I... I just... I get it. More problems than it's worth, Soph." Kate indirectly hissed at Sophie, unsure why she hadn't seen it before. "You aren't the first one."_

_"Kate... no." Sophie spoke as she put her hands firmly on Kate's shoulders. "Never. You are worth everything and then some."_

_"I... I just need some space." Kate spoke as she slowly pulled away, "I'll call you."_

_As hard as it was to walk away from a sobbing Sophie, Kate knew it was for the best. If Costello wanted a fight, Kate was sure ready to give him one._

\---

"I... I didn't know." Luke shrugged, "Mary if I knew she felt that way I wouldn't have called."

"You got all those tech gagets" Mary spoke as she flung her hands in the air, "push the damn buttons and fucking find her!"

"Mary..."

"Luke... just do it or finding Sophie won't be the worst of your worries. She is MY sister, you don't get it."

"Okay, okay" Luke spoke as he slowly backed away on the center console. "Have you tried to call her?" Luke half smiled, trying to break the tension.

"Luke," Mary finally turned to Luke, unamused, "when it comes to Sophie, Kate doesn't think... she just does."

She rolled up her sleeve, showing Luke a dark mark down her arm.

"See this?" She pointed at the mark, "I got this trying to keep up with her crew when she was in high school. Hers is ten times worse and she didn't even want me there. But when I fell off the side of the building she was there to catch me, yelling at me the whole way home."

"She's supposed to. She's your sister." Luke nodded, typing away on the keyboard.

"And that is one thing you don't get about Kate. She's been burned so many times she doesn't trust anyone; but if she loves and trusts you she will sacrifice herself to put a smile on your face. That is why she will put her life in danger to save Sophie even if Sophie will go back to Julia. Julia was right, this is not a Batwoman mission... this is a Kate Kane mission through and through."

"And you really think this dude is... that bad? I mean she beats up guys tougher daily then goes to lunch." Luke turned to an increasingly worried Mary.

"I can count on my hands how many times I have ever seen Kate cry." Mary spoke as she leaned over the computer, desperately looking for answers.

"And that woman counts for half of them."


	17. You're Not Batman

_"Got this." Kate spoke with a deep sigh, swinging her helmet over her bike._

_As much as Kate thought never in a million years she would be in this predicament, there she was in her old stomping grounds waiting to be rejected._

_"Can I speak to Alex, please?" She asked the tall woman before her, clearly checking her out. "Alex Scott."_

_"He's in a meeting." The woman flashed a smile Kate's way, "But if you would..."_

_"Still fifth floor?" Kate questioned, trying to push her way around the desk._

_"Yes, but I will..." the woman trailed off as Kate pushed the slightly ajar door, giving way to a maze of elevators._

_With a sheepish grin, Kate went right to an elevator tucked down a darkened hallway._

_"Always the same." She laughed to herself as she pushed the button and it began to rise._

_"The same... furniture too?" Kate questioned as the doors opened to an open floor plan with a desk in the center._

_"Little baby Kate." The man smiled as he raised from behind the desk, "still chasing Bruce's coattails?"_

_"Alex, still the same ass I see." Kate laughed as she made a beeline to the cart tucked in the corner._

_"Gotta keep it up for the ladies." He grinned, joining Kate at the bottle of Vodka. "Never thought I would see you back here in a million years. Gotta hide out from a crazy?"_

_"Actually..." Kate smiled as Sophie's cheesy grin flashed across her mind, "just one."_

_"You mean one hundred." Alex smiled as he poured a few more shots in Kate's glass. "I've seen the papers."_

_"Alex... I am serious and I need some help." Kate's face shifted as she sat in the chair at the desk, "I need some of your connections..."_

_"Oh..." Alex turned, surprised by Kate's revelation, "Interested."_

_"Well, you know I have been at Point Rock..."_

_"Shipped away, yes."_

_"There is this guy there... and well, he kissed my girl." Kate spoke as she sat her glass down._

_"Jealous? The Kate I knew would just run to her back up." Alex questioned, unable to read Kate's change of demeanor._

_"Unprovoked Alex." Kate locked eyes with Alex, "and now he must pay."_

_"Just beat him up." Alex shrugged, "You've never been afraid of a fight before. Don't need me for that."_

_"She's not... out." Kate spoke slowly as she chose her words carefully. "It's not really safe and if Point Rock found and told her parents..." Kate trailed off, not sure how Alex would take the new information._

_"Need me to have my guys beat him up?"_

_"Actually..." Kate grinned, surprised by Alex's willingness "you know that underground boxing club you were in?"_

_"Kate, I left that years ago but if you want my guys..."_

_"You got an in or not, Alex?" Kate spoke with a rush, clearly frustrated. "Remember, you owe me."_

_"I might know some numbers but you willing to lay all your chips down for something you could do yourself?"_

_"Not exactly... it is not that simple."_

_"How?" Alex shrugged, "you know Max."_

_"I need you to get me listed... as a man... second round against the challenger."_

_"Uh... that's new... I mean if you wanted to get your ass kicked..."_

_"Alex," Kate spoke as her voice went flat, "this dude is going to pay in front of all his little friends."_

_"She must be worth it. 10 bill buy in and we're even."_

_"Every bit." Kate smiled as she took a step toward the door, "you'll have it by noon tomorrow."_

_"Hey, Kate." Alex spoke as he picked up his phone._

_"Yeah?"_

_"Does your girl know you're pulling all your favors for this?"_

_"Not in a million years." Kate laughed, "she'd kill me."_

\---

"Figured you'd be here." Julia spoke as she slung herself into the chair next to Kate.

"Yeah?" Kate shrugged, swirling her finger around the top of a glass of vodka. "Free drinks."

"Yeah." Julia half spoke as the tension laid heavy.

As the tension between them grew Kate could feel her heartbeat in her throat. They have had a handful of woman come between them in the past but it was never this hard to just talk to Julia before.

"You know..." Julia spoke slowly, unsure when the change in their relationship shifted, "I uh... um..."

"Got it." Kate spoke as she took a large gulp of her drink, refusing to look up from her glass. "It's Sophie."

"Well, I mean... Kate..." Julia fumbled as she poured herself a glass, "It just happened... if I knew..."

"But you did know." Kate spoke nonchalantly, refusing to look up from her glass, "You knew better than anyone and you knew exactly why I couldn't tell her. Bruce had given you a thousand reasons why. Hell, he paid you to check up on me over this woman and you didn't think-"

"Not paid." Julia cut in with slight annoyance, "He told me what went down at Point Rock and that Jacob had just tossed you aside over his perfect family and he was worried."

"And you played the role of a damn one night stand." Kate spoke with a growl in her voice, slamming her fist on the counter, "when someone is heartbroken you bring them cookies not fuck them."

"It wasn't that simple Kate." Julia sighed, "you hadn't returned any of Bruce's calls for a week and the way your dad spoke of you running through half the woman and booze in Europe he was scared you were becoming him. Bruce didn't want you to lose all he had."

"So your solution was for you to sleep with me?" Kate finally turned to Julia, tears streaming down her face, "my heart was broken into a thousand pieces and all you and Bruce could come up with was to screw it out of me? I was doing that on my own, thank you."

"That... was an accident. The way Bruce had talked you up and how that night went, I just got caught up in it and before I knew it we just clicked."

"Another line of rubbish to try to steal my girl again? I mean it is not like anything was actually real." Kate hissed, unable to shake the feeling of despair deep down.

"No, Kate" Julia tensed, "my love for you was true."

"And the whole thing with Bruce?" Kate spoke as she twirled her finger in the air, "It is obvious you took notes. First for Bruce then to get Sophie... what else have you been hiding? Trying to sell me out to the Crows too?"

"Kate... what? No..."

"You knew the man was Batman with all the connections in the world and with all your training you didn't think to take notes? I mean... burgers and vodka? You fucking knew that was our thing." Kate's voice cracked as her sorrow shifted to anger.

"Kate... I have no idea what you are talking about...?"

"Soph told me about your date." Kate slurred.

"Oh." Julia paused, trying to rack her brain for when it could have come up, "sure... I should have told you but that's not really my place."

"Only when you don't get caught." Kate scoffed. "Using my pain from all those years ago to catch some tail."

"Kate, no. I still do care about you."

"And Soph?" Kate questioned, unsure she wanted to know the answer.

"Don't you get it Kate? As much as I love her, I will always be a place holder because batsuit or no batsuit, as soon as you let that woman in it will be like no one existed."

"Doubtful."

"I guess she didn't tell you about the end of that date then." Julia shrugged.

"I don't want to know about your se-"

"She called me Kate." Julia spoke with a reserved tone.

"And that is supposed to be a badge of honor or something?"

"No," Julia sighed as she let out months of reservation, "although she was too drunk to remember in that moment I knew I would never be more than a fling."


	18. Jealous Ex-girlfriend

_With a smile, Kate gave the oak door before her a quick shove. It had been a long 48 hours and with the sting of vodka still on her lips, all she wanted to do was crash into her bed and pretend that her life was not spriling out of control._

_"Kate?" The woman before her questioned, quickly pulling at the very little fabric covering her body._

_"Uhhh..." Kate swallowed, trying to force herself to display an ounce of sobriety._

_"I... I thought you were in Gotham." She blinked, watching Kate's eyes dart across her body. "If you have plans..."_

_"No... I... if you..." Kate fumbled, unable to get the soft skin before her out of her mind as she felt her skin flash with a bright red hue._

_"I know this place is technically yours and if you want me to go..." Sophie scrambled, knowing the look in Kate's bloodshot eyes only meant one thing, "I was waiting on your call... I'll just go back to Point Rock."_

_As Sophie took a step toward the bedroom, Kate couldn't help but watch in amazement as her hand shot out before her landing firmly on Sophie's shoulder._

_"Stay." Kate swallowed once more, taking a step forward and closing the door behind her. "Please."_

_"I know you're mad." Sophie spoke, refusing to turn around as she felt the heat from Kate's skin radiate from her fingertips._

_"Not mad." Kate spoke with a slight giggle in her tone. "Surprised."_

_"Wh... what?" Sophie spoke as she shifted her weight into Kate's hand sliding down the side of her body, resting squarely on her hip. "Why?"_

_"You're here." Kate smiled, suddenly unaware of her lack of sleep and drunken stupor. "I mean... I just thought..."_

_"And you don't want me to be." Sophie tensed as Kate's fingers pushed further into her skin._

_"Why wouldn't I?" Kate instinctively questioned, unable to clarify the flood of emotions flowing from the woman before her, "I never said this was my place. I mean that couch... really?"_

_As Kate closed the short distance between them she couldn't help but press her body firmly against Sophie just enough to let her know of her presence before releasing yet leaving her hands trailing down Sophie's back._

_"You came here drunk." Sophie's voice broke with a gasp. "And you're still wearing the same clothes from two days ago so you've been having a good time."_

_"Soph... baby" Kate's voice softened as she took a step back. "I had some unfinished business that took longer than I expected and I just came here to crash."_

_"Yeah, the gala" Sophie conceded, "read all about it. I know you couldn't have taken me but you could have at least told me."_

_"What? No, that is just something my step-mom puts up to keep up appearances." Kate waved it off, pleading for Sophie to turn around, "I just didn't expect you here... looking like that."_

_"Like what?" Sophie's tone showed she didn't see the humor in Kate's voice, "I am all sweaty and exhausted. I just needed a towel and-"_

_"Stunning. Beautiful. Amazing." Kate gasped as the thin fabric of Sophie's bra gave way under her fingertips._

_"You don't get it, do you?" Kate slurred as she planted her lips firmly down Sophie's back, "you don't even have to try."_

_As the salt from Sophie's skin mixed with the ever present mix of Sprite and Vodka Kate couldn't help but let out a guttural growl._

_"And I cannot keep my hands off you." Kate smiled into Sophie's skin, fighting the last remaining threads that separated her from her goal._

_"Kate..." Sophie moaned as she turned and wrapped her hands in the tussles of Kate's hair._

_"You... just... oh God." She gasped as the alternating of Kate's cool lips and hot tongue down her skin began to drive her wild._

_"See." Kate smiled, "Not mad."_

_And with a quick shove, Kate was straddling Sophie over the couch hastily making her way down her body until her lack of clothing matched Sophie's._

_"You were saying about the couch?" Sophie grinned, trying not to show her hand but as her body flinched under Kate's controlled movements she knew it wouldn't last._

_"Useful." Kate spoke as she used it to leverage against Sophie's body._

_And as the buzzing of Kate's phone in her pocket broke the flow of knowing moans, Kate began to panic._

_"Shit. Shit." Kate spoken as she frantically threw on clothes. "Fuck."_

_"Kate... where are you going? It's only 11." Sophie questioned as she pulled a blanket over her, suddenly cold without the warmth Kate's body heat provided._

_"I just gotta go... finish some stuff. Just... just don't go back, please."_

_"But what about desert?" Sophie questioned, throwing back the blanket to let the daylight flood her skin. "You know you are always down for some burgers."_

\---

"There you are!" Mary glared as she flung the doors of The Hold Up wide open. "You could have told someone other than a liquor bottle."

"Mary?" Kate questioned as she dug her face further into her arms, trying to deny the light filling the room.

"That's the one." Mary smiled, "Now get up. We got stuff to do."

"It's... uh... I can't." Kate groaned as the alcohol flooded every inch of her brain.

"You have to." Mary insisted as she pryed Kate off the counter, "Luke thinks he has a lead on Sophie's location and if we don't leave soon..."

"Uh... Mary?" Kate finally opened her eyes and turned her gaze toward the woman towering over her before steadying herself against the counter. "I can't."

"Shower first, then rescue." Mary smiled, ignoring Kate's clear drunkiness, "It'll help with the... smell. Cannot rescue the girl smelling like death."

"But she's not..." Kate protested, "She's just a friend."

"Kate," Mary spoke as she leaned in as far as she could muster. "Julia came back to the cave and filled us in. Sounds like she is just afraid as you are."

"Julia would never."

"Kate." Mary spoke with a knowing glare. "Can't you just this once trust me? If you would have just had the balls to be honest with her when she asked the first time we wouldn't be in this mess but here we are."

"You mean she knew?" Kate questioned as she stood to collect her barings.

"I would bet Sophie knew the day you saved her but you are both too stubborn to get your shit together" Mary sighed as she waved to the line of half drank glasses, "without alcohol."

"She... she did? I mean if she..." Kate trailed off, suddenly realizing all she had missed.

"Kate! The woman loved you for years, no doubt she remembered every detail." Mary sighed as every Crow holiday party flashed across her mind, "believe me, she knew but now is not the time to make wedding plans. We gotta save the girl first."

"But what if she chooses Julia?" Kate finally broke as a single tear betrayed her.

"Well, you won't know who she wants until she is away from that monster. Now get up so we can at least make you presentable, cannot have everyone thinking Batwoman is a drunk."


	19. Because She Loves You

_"Max and my guy Jake are going to meet you at the entrance on 5th at 11. It's a straight shot back without anyone noticing you. Just keep that uniform on and you should be fine." Alex paused as he tossed Kate her helmet. "Are you sure you're ready, Kate?"_

_"Gotta be." She smiled as she threw the clutch._

_But the truth is she wasn't, well not to deal with the aftermath anyway. As the vodka still ravished her brain she knew the constant phone calls meant she had a panicking girlfriend._

_The last 72 hours had led to a very frantic state of mind in both women but the unknown state of their relationship had sent Sophie into a spiral and the twenty missed calls proved just that point._

_Kate had exactly four hours until her match and she knew if she played her cards right she would have just enough time to soothe her troubled mind._

_As the crisp air cut through her helmet, Kate took a quick sigh of relief. She had always felt a calm about her with her bike between her legs and if she was to survive the fight and the barrage of questions to follow she would need all the calm she could get._

_\---_

_"Kate... call me... please..." Sophie begged into the phone before placing it once more on the table before another knowing lap around their living room._

_She hadn't meant to find it but as she had nonchalantly slipped on a pair of Kate's pajama shorts the small silver chain clinked as it landed squarely on the bathroom tile._

_Sure, she could have just shoved it back in the pocket and acted non the wiser but secrets where never something Sophie could ever keep from Kate and she wasn't about to start now._

_So she took to the one thing that had always given her comfort when her life was spriling out of control._

_Facts._

_As the sweet fruit notes of the glass beside her filled her nostrils, Sophie couldn't help but smile. Even though Kate had always protested her grape juice as she called it, there was always a bottle of wine appearing as soon as the last had disappeared._

_She had began to flip though the mounting books at her side but as snuggled into the mounting pillows on either side of her, she couldn't help the sleepy glow radiated from her body as she finally embraced the idea of being loved._

_It had been a long road to get there and she wasn't sure parts of her life would anything other than secret, but the way she felt around Kate had made it all worth it._

_She tried to force her eyes open but as the familiar smell of safety and wine began to fill her body, the comfort led her body into a sleep she didn't even realize she needed._

_Yet a quick click of the front door sent Sophie out of her deep slumber and straight to their front door. Surely, she still couldn't be that mad._

_"If you still need some space..." Sophie spoke as she flipped the switch, illuminating the space between them._

_"Kate... your face." Sophie instantly soothed as she wrapped her hands gingerly around the cuts and bruises increasingly filling her girlfriend's face._

\-------

"So... Luke, what did you find?" Mary turned to Luke before giving Kate a knowing glare.

"Uh... it seems they are keeping her in an abandoned warehouse on the West side." Luke spoke as his eyes darted between Mary and Kate.

"New location?" Julia questioned.

"About a block away." Luke spoke before turning back to the floor plans before him, "Mary and I will go through the main entrance as spectators and the most direct route to the room that has constant power is the fire escape off Main so that will be Julia and Kate."

"Cameras." Kate spoke nonchalantly, refusing to even look at the floor plans. "Back entrance off 5th is the quickest."

"Kate," Luke sighed, the lack of sleep and long hours getting the best of him, "I scooped this place put for days. I think I know."

"Used to be a fabric factory turned ungrounded fight club." Kate spoke, still refusing to look at any of the eyes landing squarely on her, "the cameras on main are back from those days and since they are trying to not draw attention to themselves they will probably use those."

"Kate, let Luke talk." Mary nodded in Luke's direction.

"I know what I am talking about." Kate mumbled, too tired to continue.

"Everything good? I mean if I need to-" Luke tried his best to cut the growing tension.

"No, if she..." Kate trailed off, knowing the look on Mary's face reminded her to shut up.

"Yes, just some sisterly bickering. Right, Kate?"

"Sure." Kate relented, unwilling to rehash the verbal lashing she had received on the car ride over.

She had never really noticed it until now but Mary's attention to detail, especially when it related to Kate's love life, had caught her by surprise; but in that moment with the alcohol still muddling her thoughts annoyance was all she could muster.

"We're great." Kate quickly flashed a half smile in Luke's direction before once again fixating on a small crack in the wall. "Right, Mary?"

"Yes. We are all here to finally save Sophie and deal with our personal feelings around others at a later date. Now Luke..."

"Yeah, right." He swallowed, "Now when Mary and I make our entrance we will be able to scope out how many potential targets you two have. Now I won't be at the coms but..."

"Who will be?" Julia finally interjected herself, unsure how she fit in the unspoken argument before her.

"Um," Luke looked up from the table, eyes darting between Julia and Mary. "No one."

"Luke?" Mary questioned.

"Well, if they all stick to the plan we shouldn't need them." Luke's voice shook, unsure of his plan himself.

"Bullshit." Kate called out in defiance at the war going on in her brain, suddenly noticing three sets of eyes staring at her intently. "Uh... nevermind." Kate blinked as she realized the fight she was having was not one she was having out loud.

"If you got something to say, just say it Kate." Mary's eyes cut like daggers as she watched her sister slightly unfold. "It's not like the three of us haven't been planning this for two days while you had a drunken pitty party."

With a fleeting look of desperation in Mary's direction Kate couldn't help but remain silent. Her internal struggle over truth and fiction would just have to live another day.

"Kate, spill." Mary turned to Kate, finally noticing her brave exterior was starting to crack. "We cannot go into this with you distracted."

"It's... nothing." Kate slowly spoke.

"Now I call bullshit." Mary glared at Kate, "now between your breakdown in the car and your current lack of words I am 99% sure it is your self sabotaging feelings for Sophie... we all here are well aware, so spill."

With a quick swallow and Mary's increasing glare, Kate knew it was now or never.

"If she knew... she would have said something. Julia and I convinced her-" she rushed before fixing her eyes once more on the wall.

"Like I told you two glasses ago... your eyes." Mary interjected, turning back to the two people and the map before her.

"What?" Kate blinked, unsure of what to make of Mary's observation.

"All she needed was your eyes. That woman knows you like the back of her hand." Mary finally turned to acknowledge Kate's gaping mouth, "Believe me... get Sophie drunk enough at any Crows party and the ramblings about green eyes and the trail of tattoos I didn't want to know about are bound to come up. I am surprised Tyler didn't put two and two together." Mary shrugged.

"Uh..." Kate blushed at the realization her sister may know more than she was letting on.

"She knew it was you." Julia agreed. "She just didn't want it to be."

"Did everyone know she knew before me?"

"Yes." All three said in unison.

"Now are you done with your self sabotage so you and Luke can come up with a plan with actual facts?" Mary spoke as she pushed the floor plan in Kate's direction.


	20. Broken Bodyguard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the unannounced absence. I have not forgotten about this story but life had gotten in the way but I am back and ready to continue the ride.

_"It's nothing." Kate half smiled before twisting in pain._

_"Kate it's... everywhere." Sophie's voice softened as she watched Kate slightly flinch as her hands instinctively rolled down her body._

_"What... what happened?" Sophie spoke as her eyes finally locked with Kate's. As her eyes darted back and forth Sophie couldn't help the twinge of pain from deep down as Kate's eyes spoke the truth, there was only one reason Kate would put her body through the punishment laid out before her._

_Her honor._

_"Just a scrap." Kate tried to force a chuckle through gritted teeth. "You should see Costello."_

_Sophie tried to force a smile but her eyes told the true story. As hard as she tried, hiding her emotions from Kate was something she was never able to do._

_"Kate... I'm... I'm so sorry." Sophie broke as the floodgates opened and the tears began to fall, "I'm not..."_

_"Soph..." Kate tried to soothe as she wrapped her arms around the shaking form before her as tightly as her body could muster, "it's nothing more than a few licks."_

_"If I would have known..." Sophie spoke as she finally let her body melt into Kate's, "Stupid. Fucking stupid. Sophie you should ha-" she muddled to herself, chastising herself for every mark on her girlfriend's body._

_"Hey, shhh." Kate grinned as her hand shot through Sophie's locks. "He had it coming, okay? That jerk had it coming for a while."_

_"Kate, I... you..."_

_"I know." Kate relaxed her body slightly into the growing pain, "you don't need saving. I just could not sit by and let that asshole think he could get away with it. You didn't do anything wrong." Kate swallowed, trying to find the right words. "You are not the wrong one here, okay?"_

_She tried as best as she could to soothe the puddle of emotions before her but as Kate watched the pain fill Sophie's core she knew it was more than just some childish bullshit that filled those brown orbs with lakes._

_"It was just words, Kate... you're in pieces." Sophie finally squeaked out as her tears caught in her throat. "You know he has no follow through."_

_"You should see him." Kate half heartedly laughed before Sophie's words sunk in. "Words? What words?"_

_"Uh..." Sophie quickly tried to backpeddle, realizing she may have left that information to herself. "Just some locker room talk."_

_"Sophie Moore. You're a mess and we both know you've seen worse." Kate's concerned voice quickly flashed with a stern tone Sophie had never heard directed at her. "Now... spill."_

_"Kate, it's nothing." She swallowed as she watched her girlfriend flash with anger once more. "Really. Now can we just drop this and focus on getting you fixed up?" Sophie couldn't help the break in her voice._

_As sure as she was sure that he looked ten times worse than the woman before her, she couldn't shake the fact that it was her fault they were in the situation to begin with. If she had just kept her mouth shut and handled it in her own way then she would not have caused all the pain before her. It was all her fault._

_"Now I already know he kissed you... without permission. I wasn't going to let him get away with it." Kate's words snapped Sophie out of her sprial._

_"On top of whatever that idiot said that you know of, he had it coming ten fold. He's not going to get away with this macho man bullshit anymore. Okay, Sophie? If I would have known before..." Kate's voice hitched as she felt her whole body radiate with anger all while watching her girlfriend fall apart._

_"Soph... look, I'm sorry." Kate spoke as she tried her best to contain her rage, "I cannot sit back and watch someone I lo- deeply care about in pain. You mean the world to me and I cannot just lay down and take what it was doing to you."_

_As soon as the words left her throat Kate's eyes instantly found an important speck on the floor, unable to look at the woman before her._

_"Uh... I care about you too..." Sophie half heartily spoke, pleading for Kate to just look up. "More...than a Moore should."_

_"Sophie Moore!" Kate's eyes finally relented as she fell into Sophie's neck. "Did you just try to make a pun?"_

_"Maybe... baby." Sophie couldn't help the twinkle flashing across her eyes, no matter how hard she had ever tried there was just something about the woman before her that could always turn the darkest of skies the brightest of blue._

_"Now about your phone calls?" Kate knowingly smirked as her lips pressed into the soft skin she didn't even realize her body needed, "need to talk about something?"_

_"Oh, it's nothing." Sophie spoke nonchalantly, mentally noting every mark that needed soothing on the body before her._

_"Sophie... you called me thirty seven times."_

_"Kate... it's nothing, it doesn't matter anymore."_

_"Sophie." Kate sighed as she finally removed her blood soaked clothes, "Please."_

_"I just found something." Sophie suddenly retreated as Kate flinched as her fingers danced over a dark mark down Kate's back. "It's not important."_

_"Oh, that ring?" Kate laughed as her naked form surprised the woman before her. "That's really not nothing."_

_"Ring?" Sophie spoke slowly, trying to gage the seriousness of Kate's statement while trying not to let her eyes fall. "I... I found a necklace. I know it's silly but it just felt personal."_

_"Which... oh." Kate's voice broke as she realized what Sophie had found._

_"Kate..." Sophie lowly whispered, knowing her current personal struggle would have to wait, "we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."_

_"No," Kate relented against her better judgment, "no secrets, remember?"_

_"Yeah, but if you don't want to talk about her, I... I get it." Sophie shrugged, unsure if she wanted to rehash Kate's past when all she wanted to do was fix the broken body before her._

_"What do you wa-" Kate spoke as a wave of dizziness fell upon her, "whoa, first we sit down then talk."_

_"We don't have to..." Sophie spoke as she wrapped a blanket around her girlfriend's bruised frame, suddenly realizing that as much as she wanted answers the desire to fix her love would always be more important._

_"No" Kate smiled as she felt Sophie's heartbeat against her skin, "you're my future. You deserve to know."_

_\---_

_"She saved you... or at least your gpa." Mary smiled as she threw clothes in Kate's general direction, "now put this on so you can do the same."_

_"Fuck you." Kate laughed in what felt like the first time in years._

_"Naw, I'll leave that to this mysterious woman who you won't even give me the name of. Sarah? Ashley? Sue?"_

_"Mary."_

_"Kate."_

_"Are... are you sure?" Kate sheepishly smiled as she walked out to the room in a silky dark blue suit. "This really isn't my... thing."_

_"But it will be her thing." Mary grinned wildly, tossing a pair of chucks in Kate's direction. "Now hurry up or you'll be late."_

_"It's just a dinner." Kate relented, suddenly nervous as she caught herself in the mirror._

_"With dad." Mary added, "and I can count on one hand how many women he knows the name of."_

_"It's just a school thing..." Kate blushed as she took a sharp swallow. "Aren't you the queen of mingling at crow events, anyway?"_

_"Yeah, yeah." Mary shrugged as she placed the finishing touches on her own outfit, "now when is this mystery woman supposed to show or am I supposed to just wait for a woman on your arm?"_

_"You won't." Kate spoke as she tried to straighten her already perfectly straight tie, "Costello and Smith will be there and uh... she..."_

_"I know I am hot but..." Mary spoke cheekly as she twirled back toward Kate, "oh, it's one of those dates." Mary couldn't help but frown as she watched nerves ravage the confident woman she had always looked up to._

_"Mary, I... I love her and dad just needs to see her as more than my girlfriend and if I tell him..."_

_"Say no more." Mary flashed a reassuring grin, "now should I go with the green or purple?"_

\---

"Falling right into place." The man snickered, "All it took was some love sick puppy dog and my plan is finally falling into place. Idiots."

"Looks whose talking." Sophie smuggly retored, tired of the endless banter with a man whose cheesy one liners wouldn't have gotten the time of day if she was desperate.

"You know you women are all the same..." the man smiled, plugging the last few cords into the live feed. "Give them a little self confidence and they all become little bitches!"

"And you? What is your excuse? All I see is a sad, pathetic man who is still stuck on the fact he lost... years ago and everyone else is happier for it." The words slowly dripped from Sophie's tongue with a deep distain she didn't even realize she had.

As the hours had turned into a never ending day, Sophie was at her wits end with the bumbling man before her and no matter how she tried to keep her cool, it was starting to show. 

"Oh, I am a self made man." The man grinned as he flashed a live feed of a building entrance to the woman before him "No thanks to you two. Now just to fix a few lose ends and the world will see who you truly are."

"Ju...lia?" Sophie questioned as a familiar silhouette came into frame before the feed went black.

"Good." The man chuckled, "you know her too."


	21. The Hold Up

_"Baby... it's been a week!" Kate sighed loudly as she watched the now familiar silver tin before her._

_As her eyes rolled, Sophie couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her lips at her girlfriend's fleeting attempt at saving face._

_"I'm good, really." She slyly grinned at the woman before her, "Now if you want to test my resolve..."_

_"But you fainted!" Sophie protested, shuffling the assortment of creams before her. "And you still look like someone's punching bag."_

_"Sophie." Kate growled as she placed her lips firmly against Sophie's soft skin. "We only have two more days before we are due back at Point Rock and I really don't..."_

_Kate couldn't help the hitch in her voice as the crispness of the skin before her caught her off guard._

_"Damn." She grinned as she felt Sophie's skin tighten under her touch._

_"Just one more..." Sophie spoke as her body refused to relent under the assault of kisses down her side, "Just... I'll... you... tenses..."_

_"Tenses?" Kate broke her contact with a laugh._

_"Well I... just shut up!" Sophie couldn't help but laugh at the obserdity of it, "you know those lips... I just... yeah."_

_And the truth of the matter was, it had been far too long since Sophie had felt those delicate lips hitting all the right spots. Between the stress of the broken body before her and the reprocussions she was about to walk into, the safety of those lips was the one thing she had denied herself._

_"Ms. Moore." Kate grinned widely as she delicately sucked on a spot that she knew would drive Sophie wild, "it seems you need help in that department."_

_"I..." Sophie tried to protest but the twinkle in her girlfriend's eye was something her body could never deny, no matter how hard she tried. "Just... God I love you." She whispered into the delicate skin before her._

_As her eyes began to fall at the familiar hum of Kate's breathing, she felt her body tense as the realization of her admission flashed against her warm skin. Surely, there was an unspoken level of love between the two of them but speaking it out loud was never in the cards for her. Kate had always been the one to lead and if she wanted her to know, she would have said it first._

_"I...hmm..." Kate grinned as she felt the flush of heat radiating off her girlfriend. "Yeah." She couldn't help the permanence of her grin._

_Little did Sophie know, Kate had been professing her love for months against the delicate skin that had taken her whole world._

_\----_

_"Kate... please." Mary grinned a smile that Kate knew she was done for. "Just this once."_

_"I look like an idiot. I just... no."_

_"But it's my birthday... ple..ase?" Mary pleaded her case as the smallest laugh caught the attention of the woman before her._

_"Fine." Kate finally relented, pulling at the short fabric barely covering her skin. "But no evidence..."_

_"Oh, don't worry. We're just going to... the club."_

_"Club? You said this was a small-"_

_"Birthday. Plus if anything will get you out of that stupor that woman put you in, scantically clad women and vodka will do the trick."_

_"Mary..."_

_"I know, I know... but does she love you?"_

_"I guess... I mean... she did say it but..."_

_"But what? The woman nearly fell over you at that dinner and you didn't even bat an eye. You told her, didn't you?"_

_"Um... you see..." Kate relented as the shame from that night plastered clearly across her rosey cheeks. "She-"_

_"Kate!" Mary shook her head as the fleeting looks between the women that night flashed across her mind, "Maybe you should just stay here. You've fallen for that woman... hard and if you cannot even tell her she had every right to do what she did."_

_Mary knew as soon as the words flew from her lips, the damage was already done but if her sister was going to be stubborn so could she. Little did she know, how quickly she would see the reason for the flushed cheeks and stifled tears before her._

\---

As the cold water cascaded down Kate's back she couldn't help but release the stiffled groan.

Of course she loved Sophie. If the last few days had proven anything, it was that she needed to protect her from that love at all costs even if it destroyed her inside.

"Fuuuccckkk" Kate belted out, letting her head rest firmly on the glass in front of her momentarily.

Sophie was finally happy and all she could do was mess it up just as she had all those years ago. Yet there Kate stood always in the way; Childish, Naive, Immature.

Sure, she had tried her hardest to push any fleeting feelings under every set of sheets or bottle of alcohol she met; but no matter how hard she tried her life always led back to Sophie.

As the last few days unfolded, it seemed everyone in her life had access to her deep secrets except her. 

With a final deep breath, Kate pushed her shivering body away from the glass mixed with soothing water and tears.

She was done being the old man out, if her secret was out she would be shouting it from the rooftops and no ghost from her past was going to stop her.

\---  
"So... if I do this, you can fix it, right?" Julia whispered into the phone as her eyes darted around the dark room before her.

"Good. Good." Julia slightly smiled, quickly shuffling non-discript envelopes into her bag.

As the light flooded in from the street below, Julia let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding.

"You're still here?" Luke questioned, desperately trying to rub the sleep from his eyes, "I know you two had a late night but I thought you'd you know... be with her?" His voice trailed off, refusing to engage any more thoughts into his friends' revolving love lives.

"She just left." Julia forced a grin, eyes pleading for Luke to not look up from the coffee machine before him.

"Well, since you're here... do you know how to work this thing?" Luke spoke as he twirled around, waving random parts to the machine in the air, "or at least put these... or not."

He sighed deeply once he realized he was talking to an empty space.

"These women need to get it together... or at least bells." He spoke as he squeezed the bridge of his nose tightly, "I deserve a raise for this."

But as his phone began to glow, any anger disputed as slight smile hung in it's place.

"Mary..." he smiled harder as he answered the familiar ring tone, "yeah... the hold up... how late wa-... she did what?"


	22. It All Started With You

_The low beats ringing in her ears were never really her style but as Sophie took another slow pull of the bottle before her, she knew any distraction from the visions running through her head would be welcoming._

_Anything to forget about the last twenty four..._

_"Sophie!" she could hear distinctly from across the room, instantly dreading every second the man's eyes watched her every movement._

_Just one night alone to drown out any lingering thoughts and feelings was all she wanted but as the familiar black hue drew closer she knew any hopes of that were dashed._

_"Hey!" The man grinned wildly as his eyes slowly crept up her body, stopping briefly at the thin fabric separating her skin from the tight blue fabric._

_"He...y... Smith" Sophie spoke, slowly twirling in her chair to meet the man's gaze._

_"Never thought I would see you here" the man grinned wider at the acknowledgement, "buried under a mound of books sure, but this is not really your scene..." he smiled, closing the short distance as the music increased. "When Costello said he saw you, I just had to see for myself."_

_With a slight nod, Sophie put her bottle to her lips shooting a slight glare at the man before her. Sure, any other night she would have been game to let him down humbly but tonight her only plan was to drown her pain in alcohol and no one was going to stop her._

_"You... you look really pretty..." the man sheepishly smiled, "mind if I-" the man motioned between his empty bottle and her own._

_"No." Sophie spoke as she twirled back in her seat._

_"Oh." The man frowned but still stepped forward, making sure to brush his side against the thin fabric covering Sophie's skin. "So where's Kate? I know she's gotta be around here if you are out."_

_"She's not." Sophie spoke coldly, finishing the bottle before her before dragging a glass of brown liquid to her lips._

_"Oh, she must be out with that secret girlfriend of hers Costello keeps talking about." The man shrugged, trying to wave down a bartender._

_"What?" Sophie quickly snapped her neck, almost brushing her cheek against the man's, "...what girlfriend?"_

_"Oh, I thought you'd know..." he smiled, taking the opportunity to lean his body into the Sophie's side as the music increased, "the woman he saw her practically screwing at that Crow's thing."_

_Fuck. Sophie swallowed hard, leaning back as she felt her cheeks begin to redden. She knew she shouldn't have had that last drink but as Kate's hands began to wander and the alcohol flooded her brain all that mattered was Kate's naked body against her own._

_"And you know this how?" Sophie sternly questioned before downing half the glass of liquid in her hand, hoping the grinning fool in front of her would catch her drift and quickly leave her alone._

_"You know Costello cannot keep that trap shut." The man grinned but as the twinkle in Sophie's eyes turned an icy black he knew any chance of leaving the club with the woman before him was fleeting._

_"I mean... I thought... if she..." the man sighed, clearly defeated as Sophie pulled away once more, "can I at least buy you a drink?" He pleaded again, eying the assortment of bottles and empty glasses before Sophie. "Or a few?"_

_"I said no, Smith." Sophie spoke with a rash crackle in her voice as she grabbed a glass of amber liquid in each hand and made her way into the sea of people._

_She couldn't help the tears that steadily fell down her cheeks with every step she took. Even though she had spent her days calculating how much of herself she could safely give Kate, they still had been caught. All because her inability to stay professional any time Kate was around. Maybe Kate was right._

_"Oh... I'm so sorry." Sophie gasped as she was pulled from her brain fog, watching as a glass flung lightly at the figure before her. "I didn't see-"_

_"It's no big deal." The woman twirled to face the voice behind her. "Hey... you're..." Mary half heartily smiled at the sniffling woman before her, "uh..."_

_"Kate's... friend." Sophie sighed, between sniffles. "Roommate." Sophie quickly corrected, unsure if she could even call herself that anymore._

_"And that guy?" Mary thumbed at the man watching Sophie from the bar._

_"An asshole."_

_"Looks like it. Well, since your Kate's friend I know you can hold your own... so how about a drink?"_

_As Sophie flashed a grin while drawing up both half empty glasses she couldn't help the light chuckle against her lips as Mary's eyes widdened._

_"Got it covered."_

_"I see." Mary smiled, "Well, if you wanna dance away from prying eyes we'll be over there." Mary spoke as she pointed to the ballon filled corner._

_"Birthday girl!" A woman behind Mary screamed, drunkenly grasping at the form fitting fabric clinging to Mary's body._

_"Happy birthday" Sophie genuinely smiled, pushing the last stray tears aside, "Maybe I am the one who owes you a drink."_

_"Whatever she said..." Mary graciously smiled as she was pulled further away from the woman before her, "she didn't mean it."_

_As Sophie slung her body against the cool leather of the couch before her, she couldn't help the sigh falling from her lips. It wasn't what she said that was the problem, it was what she didn't say but if Kate's little sister knew who she was maybe all hope wasn't lost._

_"Kate... I..." Sophie swallowed as soon as the phone in her fingers quit ringing. "I... just... love you."_

\--- 

"Nice try, coming in alone." The man before Kate cackled as he began unplugging the monitor before him, "but you're too late. She's long gone now." 

"Who says I am here for Sophie?" Kate hissed as she stepped forward, narrowing her eyes at the man before her, "She's just bait anyway... right?" 

"Oh, we all know what you gave up to be with her..." the man snipped, taking a step forward toward the shadowed figure. "Who you gave up." 

"And you?" Kate questioned, walking fully into the room once she realized he was alone, "I mean it is not like you had a chance without... cheating anyway." 

"That's a...lie." the man lowly growled, "I would never..." 

"Never what?" Kate spoke as her eyes narrowed on the man before her. "It's just you and me now. No sense in lying anymore. You got my attention... now speak." 

As soon as the words left her lips, Kate instinctively shoved the man now towering over her. 

"If you just wanted my attention you could have fucking said so." 

With a chuckle, the man caught Kate's arms with one hand and shoved her hard with the other. 

"You stupid... stupid girl." The man hissed, "you think you... you small, pathetic little girl is worth all of this?" He grinned as he pinned her body under his knees, "Even in your reject suit, you are still not worth this. Not even close. Your wannabe girlfriend? Closer." 

"What the... fuck... Costello" Kate gasped as she bucked against the knees digging deeper into her skin. "All the years of getting turned down all of a sudden too much for you?" 

"You mean the great batwoman has never heard of daddy dearest's band of crows?" He smiled as he released his grip on Kate "oh yeah... it's easier when you have an in." 

"You don't have shit." Kate growled as she jumped up and advanced on the man before her, "you've never been anything and you wo-" 

"What do you know about gummy bears?" He laughed as he cut Kate off in her tracks, pointing at the glowing hallway behind him, "oh and tell her I said hi."


End file.
